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THIS WORK IS SOLD EX0LUSIV3LY BY AGENTS, 



l$.H 



LIFE 



WILLIAM PLUMER, 



BY HIS SON, 



WILLIAM PLUMER JUNIOR. 



EDITED, 



WITH A -SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE, 



A. P. PEABODY 




BOSTON: :!' 
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY, 
CLAREMONT: ALVIN KENNEY. 
18 5 7. 



/ 



4' 737- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO., 

In the Clerk's OfiSce of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



t>nEBa OF THE 

Jranltlfn iPrtntfng mouae, 

Comer of Franklin and Hawley Streets, 

HOSTON. 






PREFACE. 



This work was -left, by its lamented author, nearly complete in a 
first draught. It was his design to append a closing Chapter, and 
materials for this were found among his papers. These would have 
been WTought into something resembling the form and dimensions 
origmally designed, had not the length of the Memoir rendered it 
inexpedient. On this account, the Editor has contented himself with 
adding to the Thirteenth Chapter, as it came to his hands, a ver}' 
small portion of what would have constituted the Fom-teenth. In 
preparing this volume for the i^ress, oui- limits have obliged us to 
omit numerous incidents, letters, and memoranda, of equal interest 
with those inserted, but less essential to the continuity and perfect- 
ness of the narrative. 

As regards the opinions expressed or implied in this work, the 
Editor can hardly need to say, that he has, in no case, suppressed 
or modified them, when they difiered from his own. Having been 
born and educated in the very heart of Massachusetts FederaUsm, 
while he cannot for a moment doubt the authenticity of the state- 
ments of fact here recorded, •nith reference to the Federal party, he 
is not always prepared to assent to the inferences drawn from them. 
He deems them, however, worthy of the most respectful considera- 
tion, as the deductions of one, whose position gave bun opportunities 
of keen insight, and whose calm, dispassionate, candid habits of 
thought, speech, and writing, impart added weight of probabiUty to 
his views of men and measures. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface iii. 

Sketch of the Author's Life and Character ix. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE YOUTH. 

Mr, Phimer's ancestry. — Parentage. — School education. — Home train- 
ing. — Removal to Epping. — Eagerness in the pursuit of knowledge. 1 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PREACHER AND THE SCEPTIC. 

Mr. Plumer becomes strongly interested in religion. — His baptism. — 
His career as a preacher. — His scepticism. — His resignation of a 
preacher's oiSce 24 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LAW STUDENT AND LEGISLATOR. 

Battle of Bunker Hill. — Mr. Plumer's first essay as a writer. — Select- 
man of Epping. — Commences the study of law with Joshua 
Atherton. — Abandons it discouraged. — Becomes a land-holder and 
farmer. — Elected to the Legislature. — Eesumes the study of law 
with John Prentice. — Mode and extent of study. — Legislative 
labors. — Insurrection threatened. — Convention to discuss griev- 
ances. — Armed resistance to the government in Rockingham 
County. — Admission to the bar. — Marriage 43 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE LEGISLATOK. 

PAGI. 

Adoption of the Constitution of the United States. — Parties under it. — 
New Hampshire Convention for ratifying it. — Legislature of 1788. — 
Mr. Plumer's coiurse as to the choice of United States Senators. — As to 
the choice of Electors. — As to the taxing of state notes. — Debate on 
the punishment for blasphemy. — John S. Sherburne. — Mr. Plumer 
chosen Speaker of the House. — Incoi-poration of the New Hampshire 
Bank. — Convention for revising the Constitution. — E-eligious free- 
dom. — Religious test for office-holders. — Constitution of the Legis- 
lature. — Organization of the Judiciary. — Results of the Conven- 
tion. — Mr. Plumer again Speaker. — His action on the subject of 
official salaries. — Collision with Prentice. — Death of his mother, — 
Petition for a ncAv bank. — Severe illness. — Chosen United States 
Senator 92 

CHAPTER y. 

THE LAWYER. 

Condition of the Law in New Hampshire. — The Colonial Judges. — 
Judges after the Revolution. — Meshech Weare. — Samuel Liver- 
more. — Josiah Bartlett. — John Pickering. — Simeon Olcutt. — John 
Dudley. — Timothy Farrar. — Special pleading. — Anecdote of Jere- 
miah Mason. — Principal lawyers in Rockingham and Straiford 
Counties. — Modes of practice. — Mr. Plumer's activity and energy. — 
Theophilus Parsons. — Jeremiah Smith. — Salaries of Judges. — Paine 
"VVingate. — Mr. Plumer's advocacy of religious freedom 149 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAWYER. (CONTINUED. ) 

Mr. Plumer as a counsellor. — A conveyancer. — A jury lawyer. — An 
orator at the bar. — Samuel Dexter. — Character of the Rockingham 
bar. — George Sullivan. — Jeremiah Smith. — Daniel Webster. — Rem- 
iniscences of Mr. Plumer as a lawyer, by Peyton R. Freeman. — 
John Porter. — Nicholas Emery. — Moody Kent. — George Sullivan. — 
Jeremiah Smith. — Arthvir Livermore. — Jeremiah Mason. — Daniel 
Webster. — Extent of Mr. Plumer's business 191 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE SENATOR. 

State of parties under Jefferson. — Journey to Washington. — Introduction 
to the President. — Thomas Paine's iiitimacy with Jefferson. — Dinner 
at the President's house. — Political letters. — Refusal of the right of 



CONTENTS. VU 



PAGE. 



deposit at New Orleans. — John Randolph. — Aaron Burr. — Hillhouse, 
of Connecticut. — Purchase of Louisiana. — Amendment of the 
Constitution as to the choice of Electors. — Mr. Plumer's speech 
agamst it. — Impeachment of Judge Pickering. — Radical notions in 
the Republican party as to the tenure of judicial oifice. — Doubts as to 
the permanence of the Union. — Extracts from letters as to plans of 
disunion in 1803-i. — Letter from Mr. Plumer to John Quincy 
Adams. — Controversy ensuing from that letter. — Alexander Hamil- 
ton's relation to the movement 239 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SENATOR. (CONTINUED.) 

Mr. Plumer's address to the Federalist Electors of New Hampshire. — 
Impeachment of Judge Chase. — Aaron Bun-'s demeanor as presid- 
ing officer of the Senate. — His farewell to the Senate. — Details of 
a journey to Washington in 1805. — Indian treaties. — Secret service 
money. — Non- intercourse with England. — Relative strength of 
parties in the Senate. — Seditious movements of Aaron Burr. — 
Henry Clay's first appearance in Congress. — Leaders in Wash- 
ington 313 

CHAPTER IX. 

NEW POLITICAL RELATIONS. 

Mr. Plumer plans a History of the United States. — British Orders in 
Council, and Berlin and Milan Decrees. — Embargo. — Mr. Plumer 
joins the Republican party. — Fears for the Union. — Letter from 
John Quincy Adams. — Mr. Plumer is elected to the New Hamp- 
shu-e Senate. — Chosen President of the Senate. — Nominated candi- 
date for Governor 357 

CHAPTE R X. 

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE. 

Mr. Plumer is elected Governor in Convention of the two Houses. — 
Escorted to the seat of Government. — Message to the Legislature. — 
Orders out companies of militia for defensive service. — Appointment 
of judges. — Correction of abuses in the Council. — Choice of United 
States Senator. — Erection of the State's Prison. — Reform of the 
criminal code. — Federalist opposition to the General Government. — 
i/ Mr. Plumer defeated, and Oilman elected Governor. — Abolition and 
re- construction of the Courts. — Mr. Plumer's address to the Clergy 
of New England. — Hartford Convention. — <'Eraof good feeling." 387 



i^ 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE. (CONTINUED.) 

Visit to Judge Story. — Mr. Plumer is again elected Governor. — Courts 
again re- constructed on the old model. — Re- organization of Dart- 
mouth College. — Letter from Mr. Jefferson. — Appointment of 
Judges. — Location of the new State House. — Treasury notes. — 
Letter from John Quincy Adams. — Decision in the case of Dart- 
mouth College. — " Advocate " party 430 

CHAPTER XII. 

CLOSE OF POLITICAL LIFE. 

Legislative discussion of the pohty of the Shakers. — Mary Dyer. — Presi- 
dent Monroe's visit to New Hampshii-e. — Correspondence with 
him. — Extracts from Journal. — Mr. Plumer's re-election. — He rec- 
ommends the amelioration of laws for the imprisonment of 
debtors. — Correspondence with Jeremy Bentham. — Mr. Plumer 
declines re-election. — Death of his daughter. — Farewell message. — 
Retirement from office, — Vote as Elector for John Quincy Adams. .464 

CHAPTER XIII. 

OLD AGE. 

Essays under the signature of Cincinnatus. — Biographical sketches. — 
Laborious literary life. — Letters on the Missouri question. — Support 
of Adams's administration. — Answer to an invitation to the second 
centennial anniversary of the settlement of Newburyport. — Answer 
to an invitation to the festival of the Sons of New Hampshire. — 
Extracts from Joiu-nal. — Personal habits. — Decliue of health. — 
Decay of Memory. — Dangerous illness. — Death of his youngest 
son. — Last ilhaess. — Death. — Funeral. — Proceedings of New Hamp- 
shire Constitutional Convention. — Personal appearance and general 
character 497 



r 



A 




(y^i^^r'i.K^^r/o if'^^Ux^TlZ^^^^.aS^ti/^ 




SKETCH 



OF THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR. 



William Plumer, the oldest child of William and Sally '}^ 
Plumer, was born in Epping, N. H., on the 9th of February, 
1789. His childhood was marked by the love of books, and 
the 'self-formed habit of study, and equally so, by modesty, 
quietness, and docility. At the age of thirteen, he entered 
Phillips Exeter Academy, to be prepared for college. While 
here, he gained, at the outset, the reputation of being a great 
reader, but a poor scholar, — was regarded by his companions 
as their infallible authority in matters of history and litera- 
ture, while, for the first two years, he permitted them to take 
precedence of him on the class roll. During his last year at 
Exeter, he applied himself to study with great diligence, so 
that, at the commencement of 1805, he was among the foremost 
of the successful candidates for admission to Harvard College. 
While in college, he devoted a large portion of his time to 
general reading, yet without detriment to his academic rank. 
He acquired, during his collegiate life, a good degree of 
facility and grace as a writer, and maintained his place among 
the highest scholars of his class. 

Immediately after taking his degree, he commenced the 
study of law with his father. But, while by no means 
unmindful of the demands of his chosen profession, he com- 
prehended, in his preparation for it, a much wider scope than 



X SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, 

is usually assigned to it, speaking in his journal of " an inti- 
mate acquaintance with History, Belles-Lettres, Moral Philos- 
ophy and Politics," as " necessary to the education of a 
lawyer." In all these departments he was early a diligent 
student, and it is believed that few of his co-evals became 
more thoroughly conversant with ancient or modern history, 
or with the classics of English literature in every age. 

In 1812, he returned to Cambridge, to take his second 
degree, on which occasion he delivered the English Oration. 
He had formed very strong college friendships ; but the most 
intimate of them hardly survived this period, except in his 
regretful memory, an unusual mortality having more than 
decimated his class within the first five years. In the autumn 
of 1812, he made his first public appearance as a political 
orator, at a Republican Convention in Kingston. During this 
same autumn, he was admitted to the bar. The greater part 
of the four following years he spent at Epping, engaged in 
study, occasionally writing for the public journals, and some- 
times appearing, with credit to himself and advantage to his 
cause, at political meetings. He projected a History of the 
Foreign Intercourse of the United States, but abandoned the 
plan, on the appearance, in Boston, of a prospectus for a sim- 
ilar work, from another hand. On the close of the war with 
Great Britain, he commenced writing an elaborate History of 
the War, and had made considerable progress in it, when the 
crowded occupations of public life suspended a work which 
he never afterwards resumed. 

In the summer of 1816, he received from the United 
States Government an appointment as Commissioner of Loans 
for New Hampshire, and removed to Portsmouth to enter 
upon his new duties. He held this office seventeen months, 
when it was abolished, and he returned to Epping. 

In 1818, he was elected to represent his native town in the 
Legislature. He at once became a leading member, bore a 
prominent part in the principal debates, and took the initiative 



SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. XI 

in several important measures. At that session he was nom- 
inated as a Rejjresentative to Congress, was elected in the 
following spring, and re-elected for the two subsequent terms, 
thus serving in three successive Congresses. 

During his first session at Washington, the question of the 
admission of Missouri as a slave state was agitated. He stood 
firm on the side of freedom ; and among the speeches delivered 
at the various stages of the debate, it is doubted whether any 
surpasses one of his, which we have now before us, in politi- 
cal wisdom, in legislative dignity, and in explicitness as to 
the principles to which, had the North remained true, the 
agitation of the last few years would have been happily super- 
seded, and the area of freedom would have exchanged pro- 
portions with that of slavery. In the seventeenth Congress, 
he served as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. 
In 182-1, he was chosen United States Senator, on the part of 
the New Hampshire Senate ; but in the House of Representa- 
tives there was no choice, and in the next Legislature, the 
two Houses united on another candidate. While in Congress, 
he formed an intimacy, which lasted through their respective 
lives, with John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster. With 
the inauguration of Mr. Adams, his life at Washington 
terminated. 

On the loth of September, 1820, he was married to Miss 
Margaret F. Mead, and, shortly afterward, built a house, near 
his father's, and in the midst of his kindred, which was thence- 
forward his home. 

In 1827 and 1828, he was a member of the New Hamp- 
shire Senate, but declined being a candidate for a third term. 
In 1827, he unexpectedly received from President Adams a 
commission as District Attorney for New Hampshire. But 
he had never been very actively engaged in the practice of 
his profession, had, for several years, been entirely withdrawn 
from it, and had no disposition to resume it. He was, how- 
ever, greatly gratified by the appointment, and especially 



Xll SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. 

by its having been made without solicitation or suggestion 
from any one, as Mr. Adams wrote to him, " a personal 
knowledge of your qualifications superseding the necessity 
for any recommendation." Little as he had appeared in the 
courts, the general opinion of his friends as to the thorough- 
ness of his professional attainments may be inferred from his 
having been repeatedly solicited to suffer himself to be placed 
upon the bench of the Supreme Court of his native State. 

On leaving the Senate, he considered himself as having 
retired from public life. He, indeed, not infrequently took 
part in political meetings, sustained various important trusts, 
and was always ready to devote his time and talents to the 
general good. But his life was, for the most part, that of 
literary industry and enjoyment. His home was pre- 
eminently happy ; his hospitality drew many friends around 
him ; and his domestic felicity, so firmly established that inev- 
itable affliction alone could disturb it, was clouded only by 
the death of an infant child. He might, perhaps, have 
sought a residence, where he would have had easy access 
to other libraries than his own and his father's, and have 
enjoyed more of the society of literary men ; but, during 
his father's lifetime, filial piety and community of tastes and 
pursuits determined his continued residence near the paternal 
mansion, and, when these motives existed no longer, he had 
survived the period when change is easily made. 

He had early developed a poetical vein, and, while in col- 
lege, had acquired considerable reputation by writing several 
of his themes in verse. In his domestic retirement, he 
rekindled the youthful flame, and became the author of not a 
few poems, some of which were printed, — we can hardly say 
published, — while many more remain with his family, their 
precious memorial of his genius and culture. Among these 
poems were three collections of Sonnets, under the common 
title of " Personal Sketches," and the specific heads of 
" Youth," " Manhood," and " Age." Of the first two, he 



SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. xiii 

printed, chiefly for distribution among his friends, small 
editions, in 1841 and 1843 respectively. The sonnets in 
these volumes are admirable specimens of euphonious versi- 
fication, chaste imagery, and affluent thought. Calm, quiet, 
contemplative, introspective, they are rich and beautiful in 
themselves, and meet the sympathy of those of kindred mood 
with the author ; but there is in them little of the stirring, 
none of the spasmodic element, which characterizes so much 
of the literature of the present generation. In 1845, he 
published " Lyrica Sacra ; or, War-Songs and Ballads 
from the Old Testament," — a felicitous versification of those 
portions of the poetry of the Bible which fall under the 
description of the title. In 184T, he published a Pastoral, 
founded on the biblical story of Ruth. In this, he displays 
a deep insight into the history and spirit of the times, and a 
highly creative imagination in grouping subsidiary ideas and 
incidents around the prominent personages and leading events 
of the scripture narrative. If the poem has any fault, it is in 
its subject. It was, perhaps, hardly safe to choose for artisti- 
cal re-creation a story in itself so fully fraught with all the ele- 
ments of poetry ; and the most smoothly flowing anaprests of 
English verse can hardly replace, with lovers of the Bible, the 
almost rhythmical prose of the Book of E,uth in our common 
version. 

His quiet home-life was broken in upon, not infrequently, 
by the claims of various public occasions, and the attractions 
of travel. He represented New Hampshire at the Centen- 
nial Celebration at Cambridge. He officiated as Chairman of 
the Committee for the Abbott Festival, at Exeter. He 
responded, in behalf of the invited guests, to Mr. Webster's 
greeting, at the first Festival of the Sons of New Hampshire. 
In 1850, after an absence of a quarter of a century, he revis- 
ited Washington, where he was received with great cordial- 
ity by such of his early associates as remained in Congress, 



XIV SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. 

and was met with many gratifying tokens of high regard by 
those who then first made his acquaintance. 

For several of the last years of his life, he was President 
of the Trustees of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum, and 
devoted a large amount of time and labor to that philanthropic 
service. Indeed, duties of this description never found him 
backward. He was eminently a humane man, and entered 
with profound interest into whatever enterprise was adapted 
to relieve the suffering and raise the depressed. In this 
spirit, he took an active, though not a partisan, interest in 
the great reforms of the age. From his determined opposi- 
tion to the Missouri Compromise, thenceonward, he was 
always ready, with tongue and pen, to deprecate the exten- 
sion of slavery, and to advocate such elections and measures 
as augured well for the cause of freedom. 

In the autumn of 1850, he took his seat as a member of 
the Convention for revising the Constitution of New Hamp- 
shire, and it is believed that no member exerted a stronger 
influence than he, or was regarded as his superior in political 
experience and wisdom, in conversance with constitutional - 
history and precedent, or in weight of argument as a debater. 
Probably the leading speech of the session was one by him 
against the proposal to make the Judiciary dependent on the 
popular suffrage. 

During the winter of 1850 — 51, he was afflicted with a 
local disease, at first supposed to be a stubborn ague, but 
which was subsequently found to be an affection of the mem- 
branous covering of the jaw-bone. From this he suffered for 
many months, and his friend and classmate, Dr. Hayward, 
feared a fatal termination. His recovery, however, seemed 
entire, though undoubtedly his constitution was impaired, so 
as to render him the easier prey to the illness which termi- 
nated his life. The leisure of his latter years was principally 
devoted to the preparation of the volume now given to the 
public. 



SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. XV 

His last illness — an inflammation of the bowels — seized him 
on the night of September 8th, 1854. He was at once greatly- 
enfeebled, but was not regarded as in danger till the 18th. 
During the greater part of that day, he was speechless and 
unconscious, and sank in the afternoon, in painless dissolution. 

His was a character which most impressed those who knew 
him best. Modest and unambitious, he shrank from notoriety, 
and was seen in public only when sought out, and drawn 
from his retirement. The writer, who long enjoyed his inti- 
macy, has seldom been conversant with a mind so rich and 
full, so accurate in fact, so sound in opinion, so weighty in 
inference, so suggestive and instructive to one of kindred 
tastes and congenial pursuits. 

His moral tastes and sensibilities were eminently true, pure, 
and delicate. From youth to age, his life was governed by 
the severest principle, and might have challenged the closest 
scrutiny. His friendshijDs were strong, and he cherished no 
enmities. None knew him but to respect him ; none shared his 
intimacy without holding him in the most affectionate regard. 
As a neighbor and a citizen, he was a peace-maker, a steadfast 
friend of improvement and progress, a counsellor and helper 
in every good work, a consistent and judicious advocate of 
whatever could make those around him happier and better. 

We have never known a more perfect embodiment than in 
him, of all the graces and amenities of domestic life. Sig- 
nally blessed in his domestic relations, he found his chief joy 
in his family, and in the exercise of the most ample and 
cordial hospitality, equally to those whose intellectual com- 
munion gave refreshment and stimulus to his own mind, and 
to those who derived from his kindness solace in their deso- 
lation, or relief in their straitnesses. Disinterested and self- 
forgetting in his loving offices for those around him, he 
unconsciously made himself the cynosure of their assiduous 
and devoted attentions, — the light and joy of the favored 



XVI SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. 

circle, who felt that the larger half of life was taken from 
them, when he was removed. 

He was a Christian, in belief, practice, and spirit. He 
loved the Scriptures, and was not only a daily reader, but a 
diligent and critical student, of the Divine Word. His theo- 
logical scholarship was extensive and accurate, and it was a 
profound heart-interest in religious truth, that preceded and 
guided him, as he sought its sources, and traced out its foun- 
tains. His life was closely conformed to the precepts of the 
Gospel, and he lost no opportunity of expressing his profound 
reverence for the doctrines of Christianity, and the character 
of its Founder. His trust in Providence was entire and 
implicit, and combined with his natural temperament, to 
impart a peculiar serenity to his speech, and his whole man- 
ner of life. He had clear and happy views of death, and of 
the life beyond death ; and, though the last change stole upon 
him without warning, we could not, on his account, regret its 
suddenness. His work was done, and well done. His 
departure was as tranquil as had been the even current of his 
pilgrimage. The shadow fell, indeed, on what seemed the 
meridian of his industry and usefulness ; but, hardly resting 
upon his consciousness, we doubt not that it was merged in 
the dawning of a brighter day. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 



CHAPTEH I. 



THE YOUTH. 



William Plumer was the fifth in descent from 
Francis Plumer, who took the freeman's oath at 
Boston, May 14, 1634. Francis came to Massachu- 
setts with a company of emigrants from the west of 
England, and settled, in 1635, at Newbury, of which 
town he was one of the original grantees. He is the 
common ancestor of all the Plumers in this country, 
whose descent I have been able to trace ; and was 
himself descended from the ancient fiimily of the 
Plumers in England, which, from the period of the 
Barons' wars, has always maintained a respectable 
standing among the gentry of that country. The 
Plumers of Georgia, the two Carolinas, and INIary- 
land, are of the same stock. George Plumer and 
Arnold Plumer, late members of Congress from Penn- 
sylvania, and Franklin Plumer, late member from 



A LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Mississippi, are descendants of Francis Plumer, as are 
also the Plumers of New Hampshire, Maine, and the 
other New England States. The land in Newbnrj, 
where Francis originally settled, and on which a 
house, said to have been built by him, was, a few 
years since, standing, and perhaps still is, has remained 
in the family since its first acquisition ; and is now 
held, in the eighth generation, by a direct descendant 
of the original proprietor. Such continued possession 
of the same property is not uncommon in Europe ; 
but, in this country of emigrant habits and restless 
adventure, the Plumers of Newbury form a rare excep- 
tion to that general love of change, which has filled 
every State in the Union with New England men, 
and has left at home few of the original possessions 
of the Pilgrims in the hands of their immediate 
posterity. Except that one of the family now and then 
represented his town in the Legislature, they neither 
sought nor received any public distinctions, and were 
chiefly known among their neighbors as honest men, 
good citizens, and industrious cultivators of the soil. 

Of this quiet and unambitious family, the fourth 
in descent from Francis, was Samuel Plumer, who 
was born, June 14, 1722. He was married, April 8, 
1755, to Mary Dole, a descendant of one of the 
families which originally settled, and still cluster in 
patriarchal simplicity, round the Green, on the Parker 
river, at Newbury Old Town. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 3 

Samuel and Mary were the parents of six children 
— three sons and three daughters — of whom, William, 
the subject of this memoir, born June 25, 1759, was 
the oldest. His father had removed on his marriage 
to what is now Newburyport, and entered largely, for 
the time and place in which he lived, into the business 
of shoe-making. He was successful in business, and 
happy in his family and his social relations. The 
shoe-manufacturers of that day sent the products of 
their labor to the southern colonies, and received in 
return corn and tobacco from Virginia and North 
Carolina. The disposal of these goods gave them 
something of the character of traders, especially in 
their transactions with their own journeymen. 

My grandfather having acquired what, with his 
moderate desires, he considered a decent competency, 
purchased a farm in Epping, New Hampshire, and, 
removing thither in the autumn of 1768, devoted 
himself thenceforth to agricultural pursuits. Of the 
personal appearance of my grandfather at tliis time 
I received, some lift}' years later, from an old man, 
who saw him at Newburyport, a description, which 
may be worth repeating here, as exhibiting, in the 
dress at least, a contrast sufficiently striking with any- 
thing which is now to be seen in the same, or indeed in 
any other place. My informant met him one Sunday 
morning, going with his family to church. He was 
dressed in a large full-bottomed wig, curled and pow- 



4 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

dered, and surmounted by a three-cornered liat, a 
scarlet broadcloth coat, an embroidered vest, buckskin 
breeches, silk stockings and velvet shoes, with large 
silver shoe and knee buckles, and an ivory-headed 
cane. But what most struck my informant, who was 
a stranger to him, was the tall and commanding figure, 
the athletic strength, and manly beauty of the person 
whom he met, the noblest looking man, as he said, 
whom he had ever seen. That Samuel Plumer was 
a man of great bodily strength and activity, many 
stories, still current, sufficiently testify. Of his fine 
personal appearance, even in old age, I retain myself 
a distinct recollection. In his younger days, and even 
at a later period, he excelled in all manly exercises, 
and neither in Newburyport, nor in Epping, did he 
find any superior, and seldom an equal, in the sports 
then common at raisings, trainings and Thanksgivings, 
of pitching quoits, shooting, lifting at the bar, running, 
leaping, and wrestling. At Epping, his chief compet- 
itor in these hardy sports, was Henry Dearborn, 
afterwards a member of Congress from Maine, Secre- 
tary of War under Jefferson, and Commander-in-Chief 
on the northern frontier in the war of 1812. Dear- 
born possessed uncommon strength and activity, and 
was, besides, a much younger man ; but, with even 
these advantages, he was seldom successful against 
the practised skill and unimpaired strength of his 
older, but not less robust and sinewy antagonist. In 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

their last wrestling match, on the occasion of raising 
a new meeting-house in Epping, Dearborn brought his 
opponent once upon his knee, but was himself twice 
thrown, first forward on his side, and, at the last trial, 
fairly on his back, leaving his rival victorious in the 
ring, with no one disposed to dispute with hun the hon- 
ors of victory. It was in these rustic, but heroic games, 
that the youth of New England acquired the strength, 
the dexterity, and the courage, which swept before 
their onset the disciplined valor of the British soldiery, 
and gave independence to their country. This great 
bodily strength of my grandfather did not descend 
to any of his sons, unless, indeed, some portion of it 
might have come to them in the form of an unusual 
strength and tenacity of life ; the average age of the 
three brothers being about eighty-six years. 

His oldest son possessed, with his length of days, a 
power of application and of endurance, which enabled 
him, though often in feeble health, and never strong, 
to perform a greater amount of labor, manual and 
intellectual, continued for many years in succession, 
through more hours every day, till he was past his 
eighty-fifth year, than any other person I ever 
knew. Young as he was when the removal to 
Epping made him thenceforth an inhabitant of 
New Hampshire, he ever after retained a grateful 
recollection of the place of his birth, and a strong 
attachment to his native state. Of events which 



6 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

occurred before he left Newburyport, little is now 
known concerning his early life, w^hich is worth relat- 
ing here. A few circumstances may, however, be 
mentioned, as either characteristic of the times, or 
of the individual. 

He w^as so feeble an infant, that there seemed, at 
first, little hope of his reaching manhood; but he 
gained strength with advancing years, and was soon 
distinguished as a lively, quick-witted boy, full of 
sprightliness and activity, observant of passing events, 
and ready alike for study and for play. His public 
instructor, noted in the history of Newbury^Dort for 
his long and faithful service in his avocation, was 
Stephen Sewall, an old man, whom he described as 
precise and fonnal in his manners, but of great kind- 
ness of heart, and wholly devoted to his pupils. He 
learned of Sewall to read, write, and spell, but was 
not taught grammar either then, or at any subsequent 
period. Sewall advised his father to give him a col- 
legiate education. This advice was earnestly enforced 
by the clergyman of the parish, who said that the boy 
would pay well for any expense in that line wliich 
might be bestowed upon him. But his father, who, 
though a man of strong sense, was little aware of the 
value of a good education, said, that besides the 
expense, which was greater than he could bestow on 
all his boys, such a course would unfit his son for 
the agricultural pursuits to which, in his own mind, he 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 7 

had, even then, already devoted him. Another answer 
which he sometimes gave, when pressed on the sub- 
ject, was, that William had wit enough to find his way 
in the Avorld, without the help of college guides, 
not reflecting that the stronger his native powers, 
the more worthy they were of being improved by the 
best culture they could receive. It is the more to be 
regretted that this advice was not followed, as we may 
be sure that he would have improved to the utmost 
whatever advantages the college might have afforded 
him. 

These, indeed, at the time when he would have 
been there, were not great. Inter arma silent miisce. 
The college buildings were, about the time when the 
youth would have been prepared to seek their shelter, 
turned into barracks for the soldiers of Washington, 
then encamped at Cambridge, for the siege of Boston. 

The clergyman wdiose advice was thus rejected Avas 
Jonathan Parsons, a divine distinguished for classical 
attainments, theological learning, and great power as 
a preacher. My father used to tell of a discourse 
which he delivered against one Smith, a Baptist 
preacher, Avho came from Haverhill, to make prose- 
lytes among Parsons's parishioners. The text Avas, " I 
have created the Smith that bloweth the coals." The 
doctrine deduced Avas, that " all things, utterlj^ Avorth- 
less as many of them are, proceeded from the Lord, 
even," added he, raising his voice and pointing to his 



8 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

opponent, who was present, " the Smith who bloweth 
the coals of strife, and heresy, and all ungodliness 
among us." Smith replied the next Sunday with 
some text equally quaint, and, no doubt, equally to 
the purpose, though I do not now remember what it 
was. These turns of Puritanical wit were then com- 
mon in the pulpit, and much admired by the audience. 
They were scarcely less common among lawyers at 
the bar, and with judges on the bench. Mr. Plumer, 
at a later period, excelled in them, and was never at 
a loss for apt quotations from the Scriptures. 

Another incident of this period carried with it a 
lesson of high moral import. A boy of his acquaint- 
ance persuaded him to buy a bu'd of him, and told 
him, as he was without money, that there would be 
no harm in taking the pistareen, which was the price, 
from his father's desk, as the bird was worth much 
more than the mone}^ His desire to possess so 
tempting an object gave such an appearance of truth 
to this juvenile sophistry, that he went to the desk, 
took the money, and was soon on his way home with 
the bird. The joy which this acquisition gave him 
was however turned, as he approached the house, into 
doubt and apprehension ; and, carrying the bird to 
his mother, he told her the whole story, and asked 
what he should do. She took him at once to his father, 
who explained to him, in no gentle terms, the guilt 
which he had incurred, and the punishment, as well 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 9 

as the disgrace, which such conduct must bring upon 
him. He then ordered him to carry back the bird to 
the boy who had been his tempter. This he did 
though with some reluctance, mortified by the ridicule 
he knew he should incur, and shedding tears at the 
loss of his beautiful bird. When he returned and 
reported that, though he had given up the bird, he 
could not get back the money, his father said, " So 
much the better, William, so much the better ; this 
will teach you that dishonesty never prospers." " I 
was only six years old," said Mr. Plumer, in relating 
this incident, " when this took place, but it fixed too 
deeply in my mind the distinction between mine and 
thine, the meiim and tuum of the law, to make any new 
light necessary for me from Blackstone or Paley, 
from lawyer or divine, on that subject ; and if in after 
life, no man ever charged me with dishonesty in any 
money transaction, it was owing not a little to this 
early lesson on the rights of property, which my 
father impressed upon me so effectually in this matter 
of the bird and the pistareen." 

One more incident, and we shall be prepared to 
accompany the boy to the quiet seclusion of his 
country life in Epping. Among things which in after 
life he remembered to have seen before leaving New- 
buryport, was the passage of John Wentworth, the 
last royal governor of New Hampshire, through that 
place, on his way to Portsmouth. This was in June, 



10 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

1767. Wentwortli had landed at Charleston, South 
Carolina, and had made the tour of the colonies, as 
Surveyor General of the King's woods in America. 
When he reached Newburyport, the whole to\ATi 
thronged his way, as, accompanied by the chief inhab- 
itants, he rode on horseback through the main street, 
with his hat in his hand, bowing gracefully to the 
salutations of a loyal and admiring people. The sight 
was one which a boy of eight years old was not likely 
to miss, or, when once seen, to forget. Yet the child, 
who, with eager curiosity, climbed the fence that he 
might have a better view of the great man as he passed, 
could hardly have foreseen that the Province of New 
Hampshire, of which he then perhaps heard for the 
first time, would within ten years become an inde- 
pendent State ; and that, in a few years more, he 
would himself be chosen to this same office of Gover- 
nor of New Hamj)shire, and be conducted to its 
capitol with more parade, and a larger escort than 
now attended the honored representative of the maj- 
esty of England. 

The characters of men depend so much upon the 
circumstances in which they are placed, and the state 
of society around them, that without some knowledge 
of these we cannot do justice to their motives, or 
judge fairly of their conduct. Among the essays 
which my father proposed to write, but for which he did 
not find time, was one on the changes which had taken 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 11 

place in the world within the period of his recollec- 
tion. " Where," says Young, " is the world in which 
a man was born ? " The proposed essay, if written, 
would have exhibited the w^orld, into which the sub- 
ject of this memoir was born, in strong contrast with 
that very different world in which he closed his days. 
It would lead us too far from our :p resent theme to 
attempt any sucli exhibition. A few facts only will 
be here noticed, which may serve to remind the reader 
of some of the most important changes which hap- 
pened within the period of Mr. Plumer's life, and of 
the influences which, wdiether for good or evil, bore 
upon him from the times, and the society in which he 
lived. The ninety years of his life were perhaps the 
most eventful period in the history of mankind ; and 
though his agency in these great transactions may, on 
a large scale, be said to be little or nothing, the 
influence on him was not the less real of events which 
transformed the whole aspect of society. It was his 
fortune to live in an age of unprecedented change 
and revolution ; of hope, expectation, and alarm ; of 
progress, demolition, and reconstruction ; in wdiicli the 
elements of society were convulsed, and the founda- 
tions of long established opinions shaken, or over- 
thrown. The strongest minds did not escape the 
agitation of the storm ; the weak were swept help- 
lessly before it. It is enough to say that American 
Independence, and tlie French Revolution, the empire 



12 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of Napoleon, and the emancipation of Spanish 
America, occurred within this period. 

Epping, then, as now, a small country town, was 
originally a part of Exeter, from which it was sepa- 
rated in 1741. With one thousand four hundred and 
ten inhabitants, it was the fifth town in population in 
the province. The inhabitants were devoted almost 
exclusively to agriculture and the lumber business. 
They sent their lumber either to Exeter or New 
Market, and thence through Portsmouth to the West 
Indies, or to England ; whence they received in return 
the few foreign commodities which their simple hab- 
its required, and the little money necessary to pay 
their taxes. On one occasion, the collector gave 
notice that he would receive the taxes in lumber, if 
delivered by a given day in March. On the day 
appointed, the lumber came in from all parts of the 
town ; and the collector started with it for Exeter, 
with forty teams, and more than a hundred yoke of 
oxen, with drums beating, colors flying, and with a 
small cask of West India rum mounted conspicuously 
on the foremost load. Cornet Perkins and Ensign 
Rundlett, who, as military men, were more honored 
in their day than major-generals of militia are in ours, 
headed the procession, and, after astonishing the good 
people of the parent town with this rustic display, 
brought back their whole company, as Deacon 
Wheeler said, in very decent order. Some of the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 13 

men, indeed, found it convenient to ride on their 
sleds, holding on manfully, but laboriously, by the 
chains, instead of walking briskly by the side of their 
oxen, as in the morning. But for this, the labors of 
the day might have seemed some excuse, if the cask, 
now empty and dangling in the chains, had not sug- 
gested a more obvious reason. This excursion was 
not, however, an ordinary occurrence ; and, in gen- 
eral, the prudence, sobriety, and frugality of this 
hardy and industrious people were worthy of all 
commendation. 

Of many interesting topics, which now occupy the 
village gossip, they knew little ; of some, nothing. 
Politics seldom disturbed their quiet. They had, 
indeed, occasionally to choose a member of the 
Assembly ; and this was not always very easil}'^ done, 
as it was sometimes hard to persuade one of the two 
or three who were alone thought fit for the place to 
accept the trust. 

With religious discussions, growing out of the ex- 
istence of different sects in the town, they had, thus 
far, been little troubled. There were a few Quakers 
on the south-western border of the town, and one of 
them had been once sent to jail for refusing to pay 
the parish tax, but, with this slight exception, the 
whole people attended the Congregational Church, 
whose minister was supported by a town tax. 

The clergyman, who thus united the town under 



14 LIFE OF WILLIAM FLUMER. 

his charge, was the Rev. Josiah Stearns, a graduate 
of Harvard College, a worthy pastor, and, in general^ 
very acceptable as a preacher. His orthodoxy was, 
however, so strict as sometimes to give offence, even 
in those days of ready acquiescence, and of deferential 
respect for the clergy ; nor did it always show itself, 
as some of his parishioners thought, on the most 
appropriate occasions. At the funerals of infants, for 
instance, he took especial care to remind the parents 
that the penalty of Adam's sin rested as heavily on 
children as on adults, and that there were thousands 
of infants in hell who had died so young that they 
could not " discern their right hand from their left." 
This expression, which my father heard him repeat- 
edly use, was characteristic, not so much of the man 
as of the times. 

The inhabitants of Epping generally were on a 
footing of great equality as to jDrojDerty ; none rich, 
and none very poor. Nearly every head of a family 
was a land owner. Money was scarce, but provisions 
^\eYe cheap, and labor always in demand. 

It was to this quiet country town that Samuel 
Plumer retired with his family in the autumn of 1768, 
to spend the remainder of his life in those agricul- 
tural pursuits to which his youth had been devoted, 
and to which his thoughts had always fondly turned. 
His eldest son was, at this time, in his tenth year ; 
and, as the farm was to be the scene of liis exertions, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 15 

lie was early trained to its labors. Of this period of 
liis life, little is now known wliicli it would be of 
interest to relate. Boys of his age, however, learn 
much from those around them, and receive impres- 
sions which influence largely and lastingly their 
future characters and conduct. 

His situation was in many respects favor^able. Few 
temptations to idleness or immorality were thrown in 
his way, and the parental influences were all on the 
side of virtue, of regular industry, steady habits, and 
quiet and orderly demeanor. His mother was a 
Avoman of great good sense, of a serene and cheerful 
disposition, and of the tenderest maternal solicitude. 
His father, who was regular in his habits, assiduous 
in business, and strict in all religious observances, 
was prompt to notice any impropriety, and checked 
at once the slightest deviation from the right in his 
children. All the reasonable wants of his son were 
anticipated by provident forethought, while his way- 
ward humors and his idle griefs, his childish sorrows 
and his boyish disapjoointments (for even he sometimes 
tasted " that root of bitterness wherewith the whole 
fruitage of our life is mingled and tempered,") were 
soothed and relieved, and often changed into pleas- 
ure, as dark clouds grow bright as they approach the 
moon, by the cheerful disposition, the earnest good 
will, and unwearied assiduity, of a pious and loving 
mother. This union of authority with indulgence — of 



16 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the father's regularity with the mother's tenderness — 
early formed him to habits of industry and self-control 
on the one hand, and on the other, to kindness, liber- 
ahty, and thoughtfulness for the wants and the 
wishes of others. In the rough and gregarious sports 
of youth he took little part ; yet his temper was 
social, and with a chosen few he was intimate and 
familiar. With little variety of incident, or change of 
pursuit, passed the first few years of his life in Epping. 
Labor in the open field, regular but not excessive, 
gave strength to his bodily frame, while the simple 
diet of his father's table left his mind clear and 
unclouded for his hours of study, and free and cheer- 
ful in his moments of relaxation. 

Yet even in this happy seclusion, and at this early 
period, he felt, with daily increasing force, one want 
not easily supplied, — that thirst for knowledge, in his 
situation unattainable, and in none ever perfectly 
obtained, which is characteristic of all active and 
inquisitive minds, and without which little real 
progress is ever made. His eager desire to under- 
stand whatever fell under his notice, or occurred to 
his thoughts, found no adequate gratification in the 
knowledge or the capacity of those around him. He 
was never tired of putting questions, which they 
could not answer. Questions indeed there are without 
number, questions as to man's origin and his destin}', 
his rights and his duties, w^hich youth in its ignorance 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 17 

can ask, but which even age in its wisdom cannot 
answer. With some of these, involving high consid- 
erations of a metaphysical, moral, and religious nature, 
he early puzzled himself and embarrassed others. 
Even the minister, looked up to with awe as an oracle, 
could not always solve the doubts of the young 
inquirer, but sought to repress by authority, rather 
than to satisfy by facts and reasonings his pertinacious 
inquisitiveness. His father had few books of much 
value, except the Bible and the Morals of Epictetus, 
The Bible, read through and through in the daily 
service, suggested thoughts that often brought him 
home from the fields with a string of doubts and 
queries, which there was no commentator at hand to 
explain. The study of Epictetus, early and assidu- 
ously pursued, while he had as yet few other books 
to read, gave, by its lessons of severe virtue and stern 
endurance, something of a stoical turn, heathen 
rather than Christian, to his cast of thought, strict- 
ness of moral principles, and an energy and decision 
of character, which remained with him to the close 
of life. 

It cannot be doubted that these two books, long 
and almost exclusively studied, entered largely into 
the formation of his moral character, and moulded 
strongly the peculiarities of his mind. 

In the mean time, his instruction at the town 
school could have added little to the knowledge 

2 



18 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

which he brought with him from Newburyport. The 
ample list of arts and sciences which our town 
schools now profess to teach was unkno^vn to the 
pedagogues of that day. Their curnciilum embraced 
little more than the elements of reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, and in these their promise of instruction 
went far beyond any adequate performance. 

The school was not kept more than ten or twelve 
weeks in the year, and, even then, the labors of the 
field, in seed time and harvest, were deemed of more 
value than what the schoolmaster could impart. 
" My father," he said to me many years after, " was a 
careful and indulgent parent, but he thought more of 
money than of knowledge." Yet under all these 
disadvantages, as the young student brought with him 
a ready apprehension, and a keen appetite for knowl- 
edge, his progress was gratifymg to himself and 
pleasing to his friends. I conversed some years since 
with un old man who remembered him when they 
were scholars together in the schoolhouse, on Red 
Oak Hill. He represented my father as learning 
faster and more easily than any of his mates, and 
as going far before them in all that was taught 
there. He excelled in arithmetic, and would some- 
times carry up to the master, who prided himself on 
his ciphering, a sum of his own stating. The teacher, 
after looking at it for a while, would say, " I am busy 
now, but will show you how it is done some other 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 19 

time." As this other time never came, and the boy 
was himself able to do the sum, his companions were 
not long in coming to the conclusion that he knew 
more than the master. 

The vanity, which this might have fostered in him, 
was checked by a deep sense of the little, after all, 
which he knew, and the much which was beyond his 
reach. All knowledge is comparative, and his was 
not great. His ciphering book, (a quarto of ninety-six 
pages,) is now before me. It begins with notation, 
and ends with the square root. It is written in a 
strong, plain hand, free from blots, and carefully fin- 
ished in every part, but with no attempt at ornament 
and no unnecessary flourish. In these respects, it not 
inaptly represented the character of its author's 
mind, which was strong, clear, well defined, without 
ostentation or parade, useful in its aims, and practical 
in its results. His old school-mate said to me, on the 
occasion of this conversation: "Your father had the 
five talents of Scripture parable, and he was never 
charged with hiding one of them in a napkin." 

He ceased going to school when he was in his sev- 
enteenth year, and was afterward his own instructor. 
Books had now become the great objects of his desire,, 
and were, from that time, his never-failing compan- 
ions. He soon exliausted the scanty supply of his 
neighbors and friends, and " whate'er the minister's 
old shelf supplied." Newspapers were then hardly 



20 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

known in tlie circle Avhere he moved. Pamphlets 
were scarce, and confined mostly to religious topics, 
the occasional sermon, the controversial tract, or the 
painful experience of some Christian professor ; or, 
what was more attractive, the narrative of some 
Indian captivity, or wild sea adventure, or shipwreck, 
the capture of a Spanish galleon, or the death of Capt. 
Kidd. Bound volumes were still more rare ; and of 
those which he could obtain few were of much value. 
He used, however, to say that no book is so poor but 
some good may be drawn from it — some fact for the 
memory, or some stimulant to thought. The meanest 
flower has a drop of honey, if the bee can but find 
it. He was indefatigable on the wing in search of 
such sweets. If he heard of a book, Avithin many 
miles of his home, he could not rest till he had visited 
its privileged owner, and obtained the loan of it 
He often went great distances on foot to borrow a 
book, of which he had heard, perhaps, only the title, 
from a person he had never -seen. 

It is easy to imagine the appearance on such 
occasions of the earnest and inquisitive youth, as, 
travel-soiled and weary with long walking, he pre- 
sented himself to the stranger whom he visited, with 
an ingenuous countenance, and a manly address, 
stating the object of his call, and soliciting the favor 
which, though trifling in itself, was more dear to him 
than the richest gifts could have been. He often 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 21 

obtained more than the smgle volume he sought ; and 
these loans, besides making him acquainted with 
their owners, gave him more real and lasting pleasure 
than the wealth or honors which afterwards came to 
reward his labors. Many were the long walks which 
he took for this purpose ; and he remembered with 
gratitude, to the close of life, these early benefactors. 
Such was his impatience that he could not always 
wait till his return to examine his treasures. Night 
more than once surj)rised him, while seated in some 
retired spot by the wayside, reading the book he had 
borrowed. This first hasty perusal was not, however, 
the last that he gave it. Books obtained with such 
difficulty were read with attention, and thoroughly 
digested, till, when he returned them, all that ' was 
worth noting in them had fixed itself in his memory. 
He retained to the close of life many facts and 
ideas which had been thus early and indelibly 
impressed on his mind. The scarcity of books led him 
involuntarily to practise on the old maxim of read- 
ing much, rather than many things. Want of variety 
and comprehensiveness was probably more than 
compensated, in this case, by the precision and accu- 
rac}^ which he thus attained. What he knew at all 
he knew well and thoroughly, so far as his means of 
information went. Suffering, as we do, in this age of 
repletion, from the multitude of books, loading every 
shelf and table, and pressing with importunate clamor 



22 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

on our attention, it is not easy for us to understand 
the difficulties which he encountered, or sufficiently 
to admire that passionate love of learning, that noble 
avarice of books which made him deny himself any 
possession rather than miss those rare treasures of the 
mind which Milton has so nobly described, " as the 
precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and 
treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." Few 
indeed were the works of master spirits to which he 
had at this time access, but he sought them far and 
wide, and used diligently whatever he could obtain. 
When he had read all within his reach, he went back 
again to reperuse and analyze what he had acquired, 
and to compare other men's thoughts with his own. 
As the advantages of a liberal education were denied 
him, it is not perhaps much to be regretted that he 
had access to so few books. A greater number might 
have led to more careless reading, and impaired per- 
haps the originality, if not the vigor of his powers. 
Hobbs said, somewhat arrogantly, that " if he had 
read as much as other men he should have known as 
little." As his other occupations left him little time 
for study, my father early formed the habit, which he 
preserved through life, of having a book always with 
him, and of reading at those leisure moments when 
others were waiting, impatiently perhaps, for their 
meals, or fretting on trivial occasions at inevita- 
ble delay, or engaged, at best, in idle conversation. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 23 

He never found these moments so short but he could 
open a book, and draw from it some fact to be remem- 
bered, or some thought for reflection. That this read- 
ing was not a mere passing of the time, a dreamy 
pleasure without improvement, as is often the case, 
appeared from the result of his studies, and the turn, 
eminently practical, of his mind. The habit thus 
early formed of reading when not otherwise employed 
continued with him through life. He took a book 
with him whenever he went from home ; and many 
were the volumes which he read on horseback. At 
a later period, when I used to ride with him in his 
chaise, he would give me the reins, and read aloud 
from some volume of history, biography, or morals, 
mingling with his reading remarks for my instruction. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PREACHEB AND THE SCEPTIC. 

Morals and religion, the duties of man to his Cre- 
ator, to himself, and to his fellow-men, have relations 
so extensive with character and conduct, that no 
man's life can be considered complete which does not 
contain some account of him in reference to this sub- 
ject. I have made, in the preceding chapter, some 
slight reference to religious opinions, as held in Mr. 
Plumer's younger days, in the circle of his more 
immediate acquaintance. 

With his eager thirst for knowledge of all kinds, 
religion could not but attract a share of his attention, 
and on this, as on other subjects, he early displayed 
that boldness of thought, which, in the pursuit of 
knowledge, is regardless of consequences, and intent 
only on the acquisition of truth, as the reward of 
inquiry. His boyish curiosity, however, soon sub- 
sided into comparative indifference. But, in the 
spring of 1779, he exj)erienced a new and more pow- 
erful religious emotion. His father had joined the 
Baptist Society in EjDping, and it was here that his 
son now attended meeting. The pastor of this church. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 25 

Samuel Shepherd, united iu his person the characters, 
then not uncommon, of physician and divine. He 
was the third Bajotist preacher ever ordained in 
this state, and his church, established in the three 
towns of Epping, Brentwood, and Stratham, iu each 
of which he had a meeting-house, and preached suc- 
cessively, is said to have been the largest ever col- 
lected under one pastor in New Hampshire. Through 
a wide region of country Dr. Shepherd was followed 
and admired by multitudes, and, everywhere, revivals 
and conversions attested the power of his preaching. 
Among others, Mr. Plumer, then in his twentieth 
year, attended these revival meetings, and became a 
convert to liis doctrines. He was baptized by Shep- 
herd, in May, 1779, in company Avith twenty others', 
by immersion in the river at Nottingham. From a 
convert he became first an exhorter, and then a 
preacher, though never regularly ordained. But this 
ministry was not destined to be of long continuance. 
In about a year and a half from his conversion, 
a change in his religious belief brought him back 
once more to the farm, and led ultimately to the 
adoption of the law as his profess-ion. Of this part 
of his life, he has left among his papers an interesting 
account, the greater portion of which I copy here, 
as likely to be more satisfactory to the reader than 
any abstract of it which could be given. 



26 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

" Early in the spring of 1779, there was in the vicinity 
what was called a reformation. Religious meetings were fre- 
quent ; the people were deeply and zealously engaged i enthu- 
siasm and superstition pervaded the assemblies, and spread 
from mind to mind like a contagious disease, or like a fire in 
a forest impelled by a strong wind. I attended one of these 
meetings with a disposition to consider it as under the influ- 
ence of a supernatural spirit. On entering the house, the 
noise and confusion of the worshippers, their cries and 
contortions, seemed to me to be the mere ebullition of the 
passions. But such is the force of example, and the contagion 
of feeling, that, before I was well aware, I too shared in their 
emotions, was affected deeply by their fears, and alarmed and 
agitated beyond measure by the apprehension of that ever- 
lasting misery which the preacher set before us, in such lively 
colors, as the inevitable doom of every unconverted sinner. 
Though before conscious of no peculiar turpitude or depravity 
of nature, I now felt that my heart was the seat of all 
impurity, and that I deserved the punishment which seemed 
about to fall upon me. 

" In this distress of mind, I could neither sleep, nor eat, 
and my strength utterly failed me. I remained in this state 
of anxiety and alarm for the space of ten days ; when, on a 
sudden, I was strongly impressed with the idea that God had 
forgiven my sins. This at once relieved my distress, and 
filled me with transports of joy. Though I had been baptized 
by sprinkling in infancy, I was now baptized by immersion 
in the river, making, at the same time, a public declaration 
of my creed and my experience ; and was soon after 
admitted a member of the Baptist church, in full communion. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 27 

I now devoted from four to eight hours a day to the study 
of the Bible, to prayer, and to the reading of rehgious books. 
In the frequent religious meetings which I attended, I 
generally took a part, either in prayer, or in an address or 
exhortation to the people. 

" Early in the spring of 1780, I entered upon the work of 
the ministry, by becoming a preacher of the Baptist denom- 
ination — not by the advice of any man or church, but from a 
conviction that it was my duty. In the latter part of that 
season, and the first of the summer, I travelled through the 
counties of Rockingham, Hillsborough, Strafford and Grafton, 
— four out of the five counties then in the State. This tour 
occupied more than six weeks. There was scarcely a day but 
I delivered one, and often two sermons. My discourses, 
though not written, were studied and methodical, and deliv- 
ered with ease and animation. I preached to others what I 
believed myself, and recommended religion to their consid- 
eration with zeal and pathos. My hearers were numerous, 
attentive, and serious ; and many of them, in consequence of 
my preaching, became professors of religion. After my 
return, I preached in Epping and the vicinity ; occasionally 
travelling into the seaports and the neighboring towns. 

" In these discourses, I addressed myself chiefly to the 
understanding, and touched the passions so far only as was 
necessary to gain the hearers' attention. I had larger audiences 
than any other preacher in the same places, a circumstance, 
doubtless, owing to my great youth, my earnest zeal, and the 
manifest sincerity of my convictions. I was not only sincere 
in my belief, but disinterested in my conduct ; for I can truly 
say that, during the whole time that I officiated in the min- 



28 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

istry, I never received to the value of a single cent from any 
person except my food and lodging in the houses I visited, 
and that only when it was necessary. 1 set apart, and strictly 
devoted one day in every month to private fasting and prayer 
in my chamber. This was always to me a season of real 
enjoyment. These fasts, besides their religious uses, invig- 
orated the mind, by relieving the stomach from the pressure 
of heavy meals, and gave me better health than I should oth- 
erwise have enjoyed. This practice of occasional fasting I 
have, indeed, continued through life, as a sure remedy against 
many bodily complaints. A fast of one or two days has often 
relieved me from diseases, which it might have taken a phy- 
sician a month to cure. It was, however, for health of mind 
rather than of body, that I now resorted to these monthly 
fasts. 

** Not a doubt existed as yet, in my mind, as to the truth 
and the reality of the religion which 1 had thus adopted. My 
faith was strong, and my sincerity equal to my zeal, and 
both were great. The first scruples which I had on this sub- 
ject occurred to me in September of this year. They did not 
proceed from books or conversation, but from my own 
thoughts and reflections. These doubts gave me much pain 
and disquietude. I made great efibrts to banish them from 
my mind, and redoubled my application to prayer, and to 
reading and studying the Bible ; but all in vain. A spirit of 
inquiry had arisen which I could not stifle nor control. I 
sought in vain to reconcile the character of the Supreme 
Being, and the reason of man, with the principles of the 
religion which I had embraced. What greatly increased my 
embarrassment was, that there was no one to whom I could 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 29 

impart my doubts with any hope that he could remove them. 
I found it a most painful task to question opinions which I 
considered so important, and which it might be even impious 
for me to reject. I had never read any book or pamphlet 
written against Christianity ; and, as I was resolved to pre- 
serve my religion, I procured and read such writings as I 
could find in defence of Christianity, and against Deism. But 
these arguments, though in some points satisfactory, added, 
on the whole, greatly to my doubts. 

" The more I examined my religious creed, the more it 
seemed to me opposed to the character of God, and to that 
faculty in man which distinguishes liim from the inferior 
animals, and enables him to discover truth. No man, unless 
he has been in my situation, can realize the anxiety which I 
suffered. I knew there were men who preached religion for 
money ; and others who taught doctrines which they did not 
believe ; but that was not my case. I had been sincere in 
my belief, and was now equally sincere and unhappy in my 
doubts. It could not but wound my feelings to abandon a 
system which I had so warmly advocated. Yet this I could 
bear ; but my fears were alarmed lest I should plunge into 
error, and expose myself to everlasting destruction. 

" After being, some time, in this painful state of anxiety 
and siispense, I communicated a portion of my doubts to the 
E,ev. John Allen, a Baptist preacher from England, who was 
then preaching in New Hampshire. He assured me that my 
doubts proceeded from the devil, said that he had often been 
afflicted with them himself, and that the only safe and effect- 
ual course was, by a resolute effort of the will, to banish them 
from the mind, repelling ail assaults of the adversary by the 



30 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

impenetrable shield of implicit faith. * The more you reason,' 
said he, ' the worse it will be with you. Resist the devil, 
and he will flee from thee.' I endeavored, in all sincerity and 
good faith, to follow his example ; but I could not long 
silence the voice of reason, nor close my eyes to self-evident 
propositions, or to what seemed necessary deductions from 
principles which I could not deny. Having at length satis-, 
fied myself that free inquiry could not be a crime, and that 
God would not punish an upright man for the errors into 
which he might fall in the search after truth, I resolved 
fully, freely and impartially to investigate the doctrines and 
the requirements of religion, as taught in the Bible, and to 
retain or reject the whole system, as it seemed to me to cor- 
respond with, or be opposed to, the reason and moral nature 
of man. The result of this inquiry, conducted with all the 
ability and the candor I possessed, terminated in deism. 

*' I continued to preach occasionally for four or five weeks, 
while these doubts and inquiries were rising in my mind. 
But my discourses were very diiferent from those which I 
had formerly delivered. I now dwelt chiefly on the nature 
and- perfections of the Deity, on his providence and his works, 
and on the use and importance of the moral and social virtues. 
This difference was soon perceived. The saints were alarmed. ■ 
I was summoned before a church meeting, and admonished to 
abandon my errors. I met with the church several times on 
the subject, without their coming to any definite decision. I 
finally told them that, if they desired it, I would state pub- 
licly before the congregation my opinions, and the reasons on 
which they rested. To this Dr. Shepherd strongly objected, 
I then withdrew from further connection with them, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 31 

returned once more to my labors on the farm with my father, 
where I was free to think for myself, and to practise what 
seemed to me to be the religion of reason and nature." 

This remarkable narrative exhibits its author 
unfavorably indeed in one point of view, as alter- 
ternately an enthusiast and an unbeliever, — yet in 
both characters as sincere, and earnest in his inquiries, 
ready, at whatever hazards, to follow truth, wherever 
she might lead, and anxious only for her instructions 
as the reward of his labors and his prayers. The 
treasure of religious truth, which, " with transports of 
joy," he had received for himself, he was eager to 
impart to others, not scantily, or imperfectly, or with 
any mercenary aim, but fully, freely, without fee or 
reward, as an offering of good will, and an oblation of 
duty to his fellow men. This idea of unpaid service 
was indeed a part of his enthusiasm. It sprang from 
a noble motive, and was worthy of the native gener- 
osity of his unselfish mind. 

To the preceding account, given by himself, I am 
able to add, from other sources, various circumstances 
which throw further light on this part of his history. 
The tour of preaching, to which he refers in the 
above extracts, was undertaken with the concurrence, 
if not on the suggestion of Dr. Shepherd. Many 
parts of the country which he visited were then but 
recently settled ; and among the rude, but intelligent 



32 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

inhabitants of the frontier towns, in the log-ca1)ins of 
the hardy settlers, he became acquainted with modes 
of hfe, and habits of thought and action with which 
he was before but httle conversant. His long jour- 
nies, over bad roads, and through gloomy forests, 
were cheered by the deep sense of duty which had 
sent him forth on this errand of love ; and the 
natural buoyancy of youth gave the color of hope, 
and often of exultant joy, to his thoughts, amidst the 
wild and magnificent mountain scenery through 
which, full of bright fancies, chastened and solem- 
nized by deep religious feeling, he travelled alone, 
often pursuing his journey late into the evening 
before reaching the humble habitation, where, a 
stranger, yet welcome, he was to rest for the night, 
and preach on the morrow to the neighboring 
inhabitants. He visited in this way many portions 
of the State, and became extensively acquainted with, 
the people. It was indeed to him a season of varied 
pleasure and severe exertion, of fatigue of body and 
labor of mind ; yet cheered by the excitement of 
perpetual novelty, and dignified by the sense of duty 
performed and service rendered to others. He began 
to be aware too, on this tour, more than he had ever 
been before, that there was in him a power of mind 
not yet called forth, — a capacity to impart knowledge, 
and to exert influence over others, which, if it gave 
pleasure, imposed also responsibilities. This conscious- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 33 

ness of power is one of the first, and often of the 
severest trials of character, to which men of genius or 
talent are exposed. He determined that, whatever 
his capacity might be, it should be devoted to useful 
j)urposes, and exerted under the control of an abiding 
sense of moral duty. 

In the course of this tour he met with many 
adventures, some of them sufficiently annoying, others 
amusing and even ludicrous. Of this latter character 
was the following. He had been preaching at Canaan, 
in Grafton county, when, at the close of his discourse, 
he was assailed by the clamors of some half a dozen 
of his hearers, who charged him with being a tory, 
upon the ground that in his sermon he had spoken of 
war as anti-Christian, and that m his prayer he had 
besought the Lord "to overturn and overturn, till 
He should come whose right it is to reign." " Now 
who," said these sagacious objectors, "can reign but a 
king? and what overturn can there be but of the present 
republican government, that the king of England, 
who claims a right to reign over us, may come in 
and exert his former authority here?" It did not 
occur to these worthy patriots that King Emanuel, 
and not King George, was in the thoughts of the 
preacher, and that his language, drawn from Scrip- 
ture, had no reference to the vocabulary of tory 
politics. If this account seems incredible, its improb- 
ability will be perhaps somewhat lessened when I add 

3 



34 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

that the text was, "Little children, love one another," 
and that he found in it no warrant for the violence 
and injustice in which war generally originates. He 
succeeded, however, in convincing those who had at 
first expressed so much anger at his discourse, that 
there was really no treason in it, and they departed, 
amidst the laughter of the bystanders, with the 
uncomfortable reflection that their zeal had, on this oc- 
casion, outrun their discretion. The anecdote would 
not have been worth relating here, but for the revival, 
thirty-six years afterward, when he was a candidate 
for the office of Governor, of this Canaan story, with 
an entire perversion of the facts. The charge then 
made was, that he was* a tory in the time of the 
revolution, and had been arrested as such on the 
occasion here referred to. There was in fact no 
arrest or attempt to arrest in the case, no toryism 
preached, and nothing unusual beyond the ludicrous 
mistake of a few of his hearers. 

As a preacher, he was eminently successful^ wher- 
ever he went. He had a ready command of apt, 
lively and idiomatic language ; and his use of words, if 
not elegant or scholar-like, was never low or vulgar. 
His voice was strong and clear, and its tones varied 
and harmonious. His reasoning was close and logical, 
fortified by Scripture quotations and analogies ; and 
his appeals to the passions were strong, and often 
overpowering. His zeal and enthusiasm, genuine and 



i 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. 35 

unaffected, animating his discourses with the fervor 
of his own convictions, carried his hearers easily and 
entirely with him. I have heard many old men 
speak with admiration of his performances on such 
occasions. With the usual partiality of the aged for 
the favorites of their youth, they all agreed in the 
declaration that they had never since seen or heard 
any one who exerted such power over his audience, 
as this young and eloquent Baptist preacher — a boy, 
as one of them said, with the tongue of an angel. 
Arthur Livermore, who heard him at Holderness, 
when he was fourteen years old, was so strongly 
impressed by him, that he told me, seventy-two years 
afterward, that he still remembered distinctly his 
look and manner, and the text and the tenor of his 
discourse. The turn of his mind was at all times less 
to declamation than to reasoning, which, as the main 
ingredient, gave strength and body to his discourses; 
yet then, as in after life, the warmth of his feelings 
added always a touch of passion to his coldest reason- 
ing. The strength of his earnest and confiding faith 
filled, while it lasted, all his thoughts, and directed 
the whole energy of his mind to the inculcation of 
his religious opinions, and with them to the promotion, 
as he believed, of the highest happiness of his fellow- 
men. But this confiding faith and more than mission- 
ary zeal were not destined long to continue. A new 
train of thought and feeling had now arisen, which 



36 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

mastered him as effectually as his former mood, with 
results more lasting, and, in some respects, less 
fortunate. Unwilling to hold his religion on trust, 
he felt it to be his duty to subject it to the test of 
free inquiry and rational conviction. It was, indeed, 
not to have been expected, still less was it desirable, 
that his strono; and clear mind should have wedded 
itself permanently to the entire system of somewhat 
narrow theology which he had embraced. But the 
revulsion of thought and feeling was as far or farther 
on the other and the wrong side of a just balance of 
opinion and sentiment. Driven into the extreme of 
fanatical behef, under the excitement of fear and the 
contagion of example, he was carried, by a natural 
but unfortunate reaction, into the opposite extreme. 
The horrors of his first conviction, the nervous terrors, 
the everlasting burnings which opened before him, in 
this fever of the brain, which at times approached 
almost to insanity, — the whole series, in short, of his 
religious experiences and trials, became thus asso- 
ciated in his mind with the very name of religion, and 
produced in him a loathing and aversion, at times 
almost unconquerable, for the whole subject. Impos- 
ture, fanaticism, madness rose before him like a cloud, 
and hid from him the wisdom of God in the folly of 
man. It is easy for us to relate, in cold and measured 
terms, the process of these fiery religious changes. 
We may regard them with indifference, or dismiss 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 37 

with pity or contempt. It was not so with him. In 
the most susceptible period of youth, the excitement 
of an enthusiastic rehgious feehng passed, with the 
force and rapidity of lightning, through the whole 
frame of his moral and intellectual nature, shaking 
the deepest foundations of thought and feeling — 
laying bare the intellect, which it roused, however, 
rather than subdued, and scathing, and for a time 
blighting, some of the purest and warmest affections 
of the heart. These recovered, indeed, from the first 
violence of the shock, but he could hardly be said ever 
to have renewed,' in their pristine purity, the beauty, 
the simplicity, and the warmth of his early faith. 
Some impressions, burned into him by the fire of that 
first fever of the mind, were too deeply imprinted 
ever to be utterly effaced. The wound healed, but 
the scar remained ; and some portion of beauty, if not 
of strength was lost in the operation. Yet, in this 
shipwreck of his early hopes, he held fast to his belief 
in a future state, and in the existence of a Supreme 
Being, wise, good and provident in all his dispen- 
sations. However doubtful on other points, on which 
we could have earnestly craved for him the full 
assurance of Christian faith, his understanding was 
never clouded by the delusion of those who hold that 
this universal frame is without an Intelligent Cause, 
or this maze of human nature without an Author, an 
object and a plan. 



38 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

"When his father first perceived his change on these 
subjects, he endeavored, by reasoning with him, to 
restore him to his former religious behef But he 
vras no match for his son, either in command of 
language, in quickness of thought, or force of reason- 
ing ; still less in zeal and ardor in debate. If not a 
better theologian, the young sceptic could at least 
put questions and state objections which no previous 
study or reflection had prepared the parent to 
obviate or remove. After many vain attempts to 
convince him of his errors, his father, who was a 
strong-minded, though uneducated man, finally said 
to him: "Well, WilHam, we shall not convince each 
other, and may therefore as well be silent on this 
subject for the future. Let me only advise you to 
think more and talk less. You will thus come in 
time to answer your own objections, which will be 
better than if I could do it for you. Keej) your love 
of truth, and your reverence for God, and you will 
come out right in the end." His mother, who, from 
his infancy, had devoted her first-born to the altar, 
and had seen with a mother's pride and gratification 
the crowds that followed him, and the great good 
which he seemed to be doing as a preacher, was propor- 
tionably disappointed at his relapse, and grieved and 
mortified at this sudden, and, to her, inexplicable 
eclipse of her fondest hopes and expectations. She 
reasoned, remonstrated, entreated, and wept over him. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 39 



He was moved indeed by her persuasions, and 
softened by her tears; but while no ill will was 
engendered and no love lost between them, they 
retained severally their own convictions. 

He drew up, about this time or perhaps a little 
later — I do not know the exact date — a statement 
of his reasons for dissent from Christianity. I saw this 
paper many years after it was written. It was 
written with great force of reasoning, precision of 
force and clearness of style, abounding in acute 
remarks, and new and striking views of the subjects 
which he discussed. Yet at the same time he seems 
to have had some doubts as to the correctness of his 
summary of Christian doctrine, especially as he found 
nothing to which, rightly understood, he could object 
in the teachings of Jesus Christ, but much which he 
even then most gladly embraced. 

His letters, during this period, are largely occupied 
with the discussion of questions in morals and the- 
ology, and show how strong a hold these subjects had 
taken on his mind. The character and attributes of 
God, his moral government, the nature of mau, his 
rights and his duties, his freedom and consequent 
responsibility, are themes on which he frequently 
enlarged. He nowhere argues against the truth of 
Christianity itself, but often against the then cur- 
rent dogmas, as in his regard inconsistent with the 
character of God and the nature of man. 



40 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

In June, 1782, he visited the Shakers, at Harvard, 
Massachusetts, where Ann Lee, the founder of the 
sect, then resided, and had much conversation with 
her. She was a woman of great shrewdness, ready 
wit, and aptness in her Scripture quotations. She 
claiming for the church the power to perform mira- 
cles, he told her he would become her disciple if she 
would perform one in his sight. "A wicked and 
adulterous generation," was her prompt reply, "seek- 
eth a sign, but no sign shall be given them." Her 
followers spent the night he was there in dancing, 
singing and praying, whirling on one foot, leaping, 
shouting and clapping hands. One of the sisters took 
him out into the middle of the room, and began 
whirling and dancing round him with wild gestures, 
and wilder incantations, till at length, feeling himself 
growing dizzy, and half inclined to join in it, he seized 
the mad bacchante in his arms and was carried by her 
across the room. 

In the first ardor of his change, he sought for a 
time to make converts to his new opinions. He w\as, 
as Mackintosh says of himself, "probably the boldest 
heretic in the county." But he soon relinquished 
the vain ambition of settling the opinions of others, 
while his own were in a state of so much uncertainty. 
His feelings were those of an inquirer, in doubt as to 
truth, and anxious, chiefly, for the solution of that 
doubt. When he spoke upon the subject, it was. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 41 

therefore, not with levity or sarcasm, hut with the ' 
respect clue to long-estahUshed opinions, and in the 
tone of inquiry, rather than of dogmatic defiance and 
dishehef 

I have dwelt at the greater length on this part of 
his early history, not only as interesting in itself, hut 
because of its great influence on his subsequent life 
and character. It was with him the stage of doubt 
and uncertainty, of internal strife and self-conflict, 
through which most men who think for themselves 
are compelled to pass on their way to the repose of 
truth, if they ever reach it, in the assurance of settled 
oj)inion. 

The leading views, thus early developed in his 
mind, were in later life essentially modified by wider 
reading, larger experience, and more mature reflec- 
tion. His rejection of Calvinism was final and 
irreversible; and when, at a later period, he felt his 
heart opening to the influences of a milder faith, it 
was not so much through any formal process of 
abstract reasoning, or by the open and direct reversal 
of former conclusions, as through the sure instincts of 
the moral nature, the vis mcdicatrix of his maturer 
mind, the result of feeling ripening slowly into 
thought, and showing itself in deed rather than in 
w^ord or profession, in life and character more than 
in creed or speculation, — a feeling of the heart pass- 
ing gradually into a conviction of the understanding. 



42 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

The subject of this chapter will be resumed when 
we come, in the progress of our narrative, to that 
period of life in which inquiry, if not dismissed as 
fruitless, settles into belief, and opinion takes the 
form in which the mind is content finally to repose. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LAW STUDENT AND LEGISLATOR. 

From his kibors as a preacher, my father returnecl, 
at the close of 1780, with unabated aclor, to his old 
pursuit of knowledge, through the medium of books. 
But books were no longer the sole companions of his 
leisure. For the last eighteen months he had been 
almost constantly in contact, and occasionally in 
collision, with the world of living njen; and, without 
losing his hold on the past, he came thenceforth to 
feel a more lively interest in the passing events of the 
day, and especially in the two great events of his 
time, the war of Independence, and the assumption 
of self-government which that war devolved upon 
the people of the United States. 

His father had been a Whig while the object sought 
by the colonies was a redress of grievances. But 
when the question of Independence arose, he doubted 
both as to the j)olicy and the practicability of the 
measure. He thought the people not yet ripe for 
self-government ; or, if so, not strong enough to set 
at defiance the power of the British empire. " Let us 
wait," he said, " till we are stronger, before setting up 



44 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

for ourselves. Remonstrate and petition, if you will, 
and adhere to your non-importation acts, but let 
there be no fighting in our day. Our sons, or, at the 
farthest, their sons, will be strong enough to have 
their own way in this matter ; and their way will be 
a better one than any we can now take in that 
direction." In a word, he was a Whig of the John 
Dickinson, rather than of the John Adams school. 
These cautious counsels were, however, ill-suited to 
the ardent temper of the times ; and, finding them of 
no avail, he submitted, with his usual prudence, to the 
popular decision, paid his war-taxes promptly, and 
discharged readily all the duties of a good citizen, 
though he had small hope of a successful issue to the 
war, and doubted, to the end, as to its policy. This 
did not prevent his signing, in 1776, among the first 
in Epping, together with two hundred and nine of his 
townsmen, " the solemn pledge, at the risk of their 
lives and fortunes, with arms, to oppose the hostile 
proceedings of the British fleets and armies against 
the United American Colonies." This was prior to 
the Declaration of Independence. 

His son was of a more sanguine temperament, and, 
from the moment when the decline of his religious 
fervor left him leisure and inclination to consider the 
subject, '•' he became," as Charles II. Atherton said in 
a letter to me, "eminently a son and preacher of 
liberty ; ready to suffer as a martyr in the cause, and 



LIFF OF WILLIAM PLTJMER. 45 

glorying in chains and imprisonment, if such should 
be his lot." To no such lot, however, was any New 
Hampshire man exposed. There was no considerable 
tory party here ; and it is worthy of remark, that no 
hostile foot of civilized man, except, perhaps, in the 
first settlement of the State, some Frenchman in an 
Indian excursion from Canada, ever left its print on 
the soil of New Hampshire. Neither during the 
Revolution, nor in the war of 1812, was there any 
invasion of our territory. But, though not actually 
invaded, its inhabitants were within hearing of the 
sounds of war. My father showed me, many years 
after, the spot where he was hoeing corn, June 17th, 
1776, when he heard the cannon of the British, at 
the battle of Bunker Hill. The distance was nearly 
fifty miles, on a straight line, yet the report was 
distinctly heard, and the cause readily divined. At 
the second discharge he left his work, and was 
among the first to join his townsmen at the meeting- 
house, where they assembled the same afternoon, in 
anxious consultation as to the probable issue of the 
day. 

The next morning several of them marched for 
Boston, ignorant of the event, but ready to meet the 
danger, whatever it might be, which awaited their 
advance. My grandfather had assisted at the consul- 
tation, but refused leave to his son, then not quite 
sixteen, to join the marching party. The first clash 



46 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

of arms at Lexington had filled him with fearful 
forebodings as to the probable result of this rash 
adventure, as he called it. His son, who had no 
such fears, was sanguine, perhaps, in proportion to his 
ignorance of the dangers and trials of the contest. 

Political subjects engaged much of my father's 
attention at this time ; yet his regular occupation was 
not that of a student, or a politician, but of a farmer, 
working daily in the fields with his father and his 
brothers. These labors of the farm were, however, 
distasteful to him, not so much on their own account, 
as from the infirm state of his health, which required 
some less toilsome occupation. Work all day on the 
farm, and study continued far into the night, were 
too much for his slender frame ; and it became daily 
more apparent that one or the other must be, if not 
adandoned, at least greatly restricted. 

An accident, which confined him for some weeks to 
the house, strengthened his desire for some other 
employment than that of manual labor. Of the three 
learned professions, medicine seemed to him, at this 
time, on the whole, to be preferred. He accordingly 
read several medical works, particularly those of the 
eminent Dutch physician, Boerhaave, from whom he 
derived much useful information on diet and regimen, 
which made him ever after, to a considerable extent, 
his own physician. He, however, soon abandoned 
this new pursuit, to which the accident of his wound 



LITE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 47 

had perliaps first drawn his attention. The want of 
firm health and a robust constitution seemed to 
disqualify him for the fatigues and exposures which 
a country physician in an extensive practice must, 
night and day, and in all weathers, encounter ; and 
he had not then confidence enough in his own powers 
to suppose that he could make his way in a city, 
against the better educated and powerfully connected 
members of the profession whom he would there 
have to meet. It may be suspected, too, that medi- 
cine had less attraction for a mind like his, than the 
more congenial pursuits of the law, which readily 
connects itself with public affairs, on which, by this 
time, his thoughts had become strongly fixed. 

It was during the confinement above referred to, 
occasioned by a cut in the foot with an axe, that he 
produced, December, 1781, almost the only verses, — 
poetry it could hardly be called, — which he is known 
to have written. Almost every man finds himself, at 
some period of his life, a poet. The slender vein of his 
inspiration exhausted itself, on this occasion, in a 
poem on " Adversity and its Remedy." The remedy 
here proposed is the usual one of . patience under 
suffering; and its use, to which the poem is chiefly 
devoted, is declared to be to teach us compassion for 
the sufferings of others, and to rouse us to active 
exertions for their relief This poem, which consists 
of about three hundred lines in blank verse, has the 



48 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

merit of good sense- and just feeling, but it is written 
without liarmony of numljers, with little flow of fancy, 
and no strength of creative imagination. It is, so far 
as I know, his only poem, except a coj)y of verses, 
written in 1785, on the marriage of one of his friends, 
and of somewhat higher merit. But his judgment 
was too sound not readily to perceive the broad 
distinction between that nice sensibility to beauty 
which is necessary to the due appreciation of poetry, 
and that much rarer power of genius which is essen- 
tial to its production. "I found," he says, "that 
nature had not intended me for a poet, and, though 
fond of reading poetry, I have never since attempted 
to write it." 

But, though not a poet, he had by this time secured 
the command of a good prose style ; and he was not 
slow in turning it to account. His first publication 
in the newspapers, for which he afterwards wrote 
so much, was made about this time, February 18th, 
1782, in the New Hampshire Gazette, printed in 
Portsmouth. It was on a branch of the great sub- 
ject of religion, which had long occupied so largely 
his attention; not, however, on the peculiarities of 
religious doctrine, but on the rights of conscience, and 
the protection of religious freedom. 

The revolution had thrown the colonies, in the 
midst of their other dangers, upon the untried perils 
of self-government. Next to the demands of the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 49 

war, and, indeed, essential to its success, was the call 
on the civil wisdom of the country for local institu- 
tions, and new forms of government. The epoch of 
the revolution was the epoch, also, of written consti- 
tutions. The old governments were dissolved, and, 
in this sudden resolution of society into its first 
elements, when every man had his Utopia, or his 
Oceana, it is not strange that many crude notions 
should have been advanced. The people of New 
Hampshire were the first on the continent to adopt, 
on this occasion, a written constitution. It went into 
operation January 5th, 1776, before the Declaration 
of Independence ; and its title bears proof, not to be 
mistaken, of the unsettled state of public feeling in the 
colonies at this time. It was entitled, "A form of 
government to continue during the present unhappy 
and unnatural contest with Great Britain." It imposed 
no restriction on the right of sufirage, and left the 
highest offices open to all. In 1779, a new constitu- 
tion was formed, by a new convention, called for that 
purpose. The government, proposed by this instru- 
ment, was to consist of a Council and House of 
Representatives ; and it was provided, that all the 
male inhabitants of the State, of lawful age, paying 
taxes, and professing the Protestant religion, shall be 
deemed lawful voters, in choosing councillors and 
representatives, — these latter to have the same quali- 
fications as the voters, and also an estate of three 



50 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

hundred pounds. This constitution was not adopted 
by the people. It is worthy of remark, that this 
rehgious test, then first proposed, was nearly contem- 
poraneous with the alliance with France, which, 
however beneficial in other respects, was thought by 
many likely to favor the introduction of popery 
among us. The only real danger from the French 
alliance, to the religion of the country, was not from 
the Primate of Rome, but from the philosopher of 
Ferney, whose disciples in the French army were 
much more numerous and more zealous than the 
priests. 

Another convention was called in 1781 ; and the 
constitution proposed by it, after various alterations 
and amendments, went finally into operation in 1784. 
One of its clauses declared that "Every individual 
has a natural and unalienable right to worship God 
according to the dictates of his own conscience and 
reason." Yet, .as a sort of compromise between 
the new spirit of religious freedom and the old 
intolerance, "the protection of the law" for this 
"unalienable right" Avas, by another article, confined 
to " Christians;" leaving all others out of the pale of 
such protection. By other clauses it was provided, 
that no person should hold the office of governor, 
councillor, senator, delegate, or member of Congress, 
unless he were of the "Protestant religion." It was 
in opposition to these intolerant restrictions, and in 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 51 

defence of religious liberty, that this first essay was 
written. In it, the broad principle is laid doAvn, that 
all men are equally entitled to the protection of the 
laws, who demean themselves peaceably, as good 
members of civil society, without reference to their 
religious opinions; and, that any man should be 
eligible to office who possesses the ability necessary 
for the discbarge of its duties. 

This communication, which went the full length, 
not of toleration merely, but of religious freedom, as 
now understood by its most liberal advocates, was far 
in advance of the times. "The printer," my father 
writes, "thinking the religion of the country required 
such a provision as I opposed, refused to publish 
what I had written, until I paid him three dollars for 
doing it." The articles of the Constitution, thus 
opposed, were ado^ited by the people, and still remain 
a part of that instrument. Such, however, was the 
justice of his strictures, and such the advance of pubHc 
sentiment on this subject, that these provisions soon 
became practically obsolete. Men, not Protestants, 
nor even Christians, have been repeatedly chosen to 
offices which, under these provisions, they were not 
entitled to hold; and no attempt was ever made 
to exclude them on the ground of this religious dis- 
qualification. These and other amendments of the 
Constitution being still before the people, he wrote 
another address, which was published in 1783, and 



52 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

brought the matter before the town of EjDping, in 
September of that year, as chairman of a committee, 
in a written report made on the subject. The Con- 
stitution, as amended, did not go into operation till 
June 10th, 1784. 

In March, 1783, he was chosen one of the selectmen 
of E2oping, and his first public employment was in 
the humble, but not unimportant offices of his adopted 
town, whose affairs he managed with prudence and 
sagacity for many years, much to the satisfaction of 
his townsmen. "We will hold the candle, squire, and 
you must do the work," was the remark of one of his 
colleagues, indicating, not untruly, the relation in 
which they stood towards each other, and which, 
as he put forward no pretensions, they willingly 
acknowledged. As a sample of the moderate emolu- 
ments of those times, it may be mentioned, that he 
charged three shillings a day for his services, and 
half that sum for half a day; and this, too, when 
the pay was in town orders, at a discount of from 
twenty-five to fifty per cent. He never, however, 
regarded as lost or misapplied the time devoted to 
these services. They made him acquainted with the 
people, gave him business habits, and prepared him 
for more important duties. 

This first official appointment raised in his mind, 
or rather brought to a practical decision in his own 
case, the question as to the lawfulness and propriety 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 53 

of taking official or other oaths. He considered this 
appeal to the Deitj, in the ordinary transactions of 
life, as unnecessary and improper. " Swear not at all," 
was his text, on this subject ; and he adhered to it to 
the letter. No man ever heard him utter an oath, 
whether seriously before a magistrate, or profanely in 
conversation. Aside from the religious aspect of the 
subject, he was averse, on principle, to the use of 
intense or violent language. He employed few^ adjec- 
tives, and still fewer superlatives in his speech, and 
never added to the force of his thoughts by exple- 
tives or adjurations. 

Anxious to engage in some pursuit which should 
task his mind more than his body, and feeling, no 
doubt, within him the stirrings of powers, which some 
public profession could alone develop or employ, he 
at length determined to commence the study of the 
law. After applying to Theophilus Bradbury, of 
Newburyport, who advised him to study law in the 
state where he intended to practice, and to John 
Pickering, of Portsmouth, who declined to take him, 
upon the ground, that, having already two students, 
he could not do justice to a third, he entered in May, 
1784, the office of Joshua Atherton, of Amherst, wdio 
was at that time a lawyer of good standing at the 
bar, and was afterwards Attorney General of the 
state. In going to Amherst, he was accompanied on 
the journey by his brother Samuel. Mounting their 



64 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

horses after dinner, they rode to Londonderry, where 
they passed the night at the house of their aunt 
Alexander, and the next morning left that place for 
Amherst. On reaching the Merrimac, at Thornton's 
ferry, the younger brother, leading one horse and 
riding the other, turned his face homeward, while the 
elder taking his bundle of clothes in his hand, leaped 
lightly into the boat, crossed the river, and made his 
way on foot to Amherst. He was kindly received by 
his new instructor, who had already two students 
with him ; to one of whom, William Coleman, after- 
wards distinguished as the editor of the New York 
Evening Post, and a leading Federalist in that state, 
the young student became much attached, and kept 
up with him, for many years, a friendly correspond- 
ence. Coleman soon formed so high an opinion of 
his fellow-student's talents, that he wrote to him two 
years later: "Ere many years you will so fully gain 
the esteem of your state, as you have already of your 
town, as to give me the oj^portunity, when I shall 
hereafter write you, to subscribe myself 'Your Excel- 
lency's most obedient, etc' " This rather remarkable 
prediction failed only by the death of Coleman, before 
the event happened which he had foreseen. 

Atherton gave him Coke upon Littleton, as his first 
initiation into the mysteries of the law ; and it is not 
strange that the ardor of tlie young aspirant was 
somewhat cooled by this selection of masters, so quaint. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 55 

austere and forbidding. After digging, for some three 
or four weeks, in the rugged soil of the feudal tenures, 
and beginning, as he thought, to get some glimpses of 
its hidden treasures, he was told by his instructor that 
he must suspend his legal studies, and commence with 
the Latin grammar. He must read Virgil and Cicero 
before he could understand Coke and Littleton. This 
was a new and, to him, most unwelcome labor. He, 
however, laid aside his law, and took up Lily's Latin 
grammar, probably the first grammar he had ever 
seen, certainly the first he had ever attempted to 
study. Its strange sounds and, to him, unmeaning 
rules, were even more distasteful than the quaint 
language, the remote analogies, and subtle distinctions, 
into which ho had with difficulty entered, in those 
ancient sages of the law, on whose words he had been 
so recently intent. This new and repulsive study — 
what Lord Brougham calls "the tediousness, the 
intricacies, and the labors of grammar" — coming thus 
suddenly on the back of the other, Avas too much for 
his patience. Spelman, under less trying circum- 
stances, tells us that he had felt his heart sink within 
him. Few students have escaped the same feelings 
at their first entrance on the study of the law. After 
a brief trial, he threw down the Latin grammar, and, 
bidding a farewell to Amherst, returned, not with- 
out some mortification and regret, to his father's 
house ; where he found his friends delighted with the 



56 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

idea of his renoimcing the law, though he told them 
he should soon resume it under a different instructor. 
The letter already quoted, of Charles H. Atherton, 
who was the son of the Attorney General, contains a 
description of the young student as he then appeared, 
which is interesting as compared with what is known 
of him in later life. "I have," he says, "a vivid 
impression of your father's appearance at that time. 
He wore a snuff-colored coat, was thin and spare, and 
had much the appearance of a Methodist preacher. I 
remember that he talked in regular-built sentences, 
like a book; and that young as I was, being only 
twelve or thirteen years old, I was very much struck 
with the precision and good sense of his conversation." 
On this description, I may remark, that the com- 
parison of the "Methodist preacher" could not have 
been suggested at the time, as no such preachers 
were then to be seen in New Hamshire. It is not 
improbable, however, that he still retained something 
of the clerical aspect, which at an earlier period he 
must have worn. He had at this time seen little that 
could be called polite or polished society, and had 
mingled not at all in its lighter and gayer circles. 
Later in life, his manners were remarkable for their 
ease and simplicity; polished without being formal 
or affected; and, though lively and animated, never 
rude or boisterous. He had the graceful and 
deferential politeness, especially towards women, of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 57 

the old school, which won favor without losing self- 
respect. What is said of his talking " in regular-built 
sentences, like a book," was not true of his conver- 
sation at a later period, though it may have been 
when he was young, and had derived his knowledge 
more from books than from men. "The precision and 
good sense " with which young Atherton, was so "much 
struck," remained with him to the close of life. Yet 
he w\as precise in no other sense than that of being 
accurate in his use of language, and cautious in 
the statement of facts. There w^as no affectation of 
elegance or precision in his conversation, which, on 
the contrary, was distinguished for its variety and its 
freedom, never running into discussion, or speech- 
making, nor roughening into controversy and contra- 
diction. He was frank and fearless, yet modest, in 
the avowal of his own opinions, and courteous, though 
explicit, in his treatment of others. 

Though, in leaving Amherst, he had not intended 
to abandon the law, he found in the washes and 
prejudices of his parents a barrier to its farther pros- 
ecution, which w\as not easily surmounted. Their 
aversion to the law, as a profession, strong at first, 
seemed to have increased wdtli time. "After spend- 
ing," he says, "more than a month with my parents, 
embarrassed and perplexed with doubts what course 
to pursue, my father, Avith a view to fix me to the 
cultivation of the soil, proposed to purchase for me a 



58 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

house, and about sixty acres of land, called the Dear- 
born place, in the centre of the town. In July, the 
bargain was made, and on the 4tli of September, I 
received a deed of it." This was the homestead, 
afterwards greatly enlarged, on which he went to 
live in the succeeding spring, boarding with his 
tenant, and superintending his operations, and where 
he continued to reside till his death. On it his 
remains now rej)ose in the family cemetery. =^' 

The strong aversion of his parents to the law, and 
his somewhat advanced age, made him doubt wdiether 
some other employment might not, on the whole, be 
as well for him. In the meantime, his being drawn to 
serve on the jury brought the law again more forcibly 
to his mind. This service, as a juror, gave him an 
msight into the modes in which juries proceed, the 
view they take of witnesses, the motives which 



* One day, while in donbt on the subject of his future pursuits, he was 
overtaken, as he was walking from Epping Corner to his father's house, by 
Arthur Livermore, afterwards Chief Justice of the state. As they came 
opposite the Dearborn place, my father said, "What do you think of this 
situation ? " Livermore replied, " It is a beautiful one." " Well," said his 
companion. " my father offers to buy it for me on condition that I will give 
Tip the law, and turn farmer; what would you do?" "Take it," said 
Livermore : " It will make you at once an independent man. If you still 
prefer the law, your father will not be so imreasonable as finally to withstand 
your wishes." "But I will not deceive him," said my father; "he shall 
have the farm back again if I stvidy law." " In the meantime take the 
land," said Livermore laughing, as they parted. Livermore, in telling 
me this anecdote, more than sixty years afterwards, added, "This was the 
second time I had seen your fatiier. The first was at Holderness, when he 
preached to a roomful! of earnest and excited hearers, and there are old men 
still alive, who have not forgotten the occasion any more than I have." 



J 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 59 

influence them, and the ease with which the majority 
yield to the opinions of one or two controling minds 
on the panel, which was, he said, of great use to him 
in understanding their humors, and in managing cases 
before them, when, in after life, he had himself to 
address a jury. 

In March, 1785, he was elected to represent his 
town in the legislature. His religious opinions had 
been urged against him in the canvass; and he was 
told that his seat would be contested on the ground 
that he was not " of the Protestant religion." But 
no such objection was made to him, and he retained 
his seat during the three sessions, which the legisla- 
ture held that year. "In the first," he says, "I took 
little part in debate, but was attentive to every 
transaction ; formed my opinions, and acted' from my 
own judgment of things. At the second session, I 
entered my protest, singly and alone, against the bill 
for the recovery of small debts in an expeditious 
way and manner ; principally on the ground that it 
was unconstitutional. The courts so pronounced it, 
and the succeeding legislature repealed the law." 
This protest, thus made, " singly and alone," is worthy 
of notice, as a specimen of that fearless discharge of 
duty according to his own sense of right, uninfluenced 
by numbers, and unmoved by threats or flattery, 
which distinguished him through life, and of which 
many examples will be found in this narrative. 



GO LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

He now returned once more to the subject of a 
profession, and resolved, late as it was in life, to 
commence the study of the law, "if," he says, "the 
consent of my parents could be obtained. After 
many applications and remonstrances, that consent," 
he adds, "was reluctantly yielded." This deference to 
parental authority, which had so long held him back, 
is worthy of remark, as showing the character of the 
man. He was now in his twenty-seventh year; a 
landholder ; one of the fathers of the town, its repre- 
sentative in the legislature, and, as such, a lawgiver 
and ruler in the land ; yet he was submissive to the 
parental yoke, even when it bore heavily on his 
dearest wishes and most cherished desires. His father, 
partaking largely in the prejudices of the times, 
hardly believed there could be an honest lawyer; 
and the simple piety of his mother still hoped to win 
back her favorite son to the service of the altar. 
These prejudices and this desire gave way, however, 
at length, to what they could not but perceive was 
the steady bent of his mind. The mother yielded 
first, and his father finally said, " Go then, William, if 
you must; it is a bad company you are going into — 
the lawyers; but I can trust you, even there. They 
may not," he added, "be so bad after all. There are 
dishonest farmers, and even dishonest Christians; why 
not then, honest lawyers?" In a word, having made 
up his mind that his son must be a lawyer, the old 



LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 61 

gentleman began to look on the profession with some 
complacency, and lived long enough to feel proud 
of his son's success in it. 

The only obstacle to his wishes being now removed, 
he entered, on his return from the autumnal session 
of the legislature, November 14th, 1785, the office of 
John Prentice, Londonderry. "If I had remained in 
Atherton's office," he says, in a letter to Coleman, "I 
should now have been eighteen months nearer an 
admission to the bar, which, to a man as old as I 
am, is a matter of some importance. But I am now 
reading law with my parents' approbation, and in 
some other respects I have lost nothing by the 
delay." By the terms of the contract, he was to 
remain two years with Prentice, do the business of 
the office, and pay him five hundred dollars for his 
board and tuition; and two hundred more if he 
took the profits of the justice business. This last he 
soon determmed not to take. The income from 
this source was likely to exceed the two hundred 
dollars; but he was fearful it would tempt him to 
encourage this species of petty litigation, at a time 
when, from his poverty, the temptation could not but 
be strong, and might betray him into disreputable 
practices. Considerations of this nature induced the 
bar, some years later, to prohibit, on his motion, 
students from receiving any emoluments from this 
source. 



62 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

His new instructor, a graduate of Harvard college, 
though probably not a well-read lawyer, possessed a 
respectable standing at the bar ; and, like Atherton, 
was afterwards Attorney General. His law library 
consisted at this time of Blackstone's Commentaries; 
Wood's Institutes of the Laws of England ; Hawkins's 
Pleas of the Crown; Jacobs's Law Dictionary; Salkeld; 
Haymond and Strange's Reports; the New Hamp- 
shire Statutes, and a manuscript volume of Pleas and 
Declarations. If the reader is disposed to smile at 
this scanty library, he may be reminded of the 
anecdote of Patrick Henry, who, on applying for 
admission to the Virginia bar, and being asked by 
Mr. Jefferson, what books he had read, replied with 
entire confidence in the extent of his legal acquire- 
ments, "Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia 
Statutes." A New Hampshire lawyer, of the same 
period, was probably not much deeper in book learn- 
ing than the Virginia orator. "In the simple and 
hapi^y times of Edward I," says Lord Campbell, 
" Glanville, Bracton, and Fleta composed a complete 
law library." In the sixteenth century the books of 
the common law might, according to Howell, be 
carried in a wheelbarrow. They now go by cartloads, 
and heavy at that. 

My father resumed his legal studies with the read- 
ing of Blackstone, and, though the attractive style 
and clear method of the great commentator made the 



LIFE OF^ WILLIAM PLUMER. 63 

task easier than he had found it at Amherst, it was 
still so difficult as to bring his parents' wishes some- 
times to his mind. But he soon became flimiliar 
with his author's manner, saw the subjects discussed 
in their true bearings, and relished daily, more and 
more, the science whose j)rinciples he was now begin- 
ning to comprehend. He read the whole of Blackstone 
rapidly through, in the first instance, to acquire, in 
this way, a general idea of its contents ; and then 
went over it, more carefully, a second time, with a 
view to its more thorough comprehension. He devoted 
at least ten hours a day to this study, though he 
seldom read more than forty or fifty pages in that 
time. But these were carefully studied, or, if not 
fully understood, at least, examined with his best care 
and attention. His instructor was not much inclined, 
nor indeed always able, to answer the questions 
which he asked ; and the few books within his reach 
often failed to furnish the desired information. Under 
these circumstances his practice was, after reading a 
portion of Blackstone, to trace the subject through 
other books ; and then, taking a walk in some retired 
place, to review in his mind the substance of what he 
had read, examining the relations of one part with 
another, and of the whole with what he had learned 
before, till he felt himself master of the lesson, and 
prepared to go farther. These walks, extending 
sometimes several miles from his home, gave him the 



€4 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

advantage at once of exercise, and of study and reflec- 
tion. Thus he went slowly, but surely and regularly, 
through the Commentaries, connecting them, as he 
proceeded, with whatever he could gather on each 
subject from other sources ; till the whole system of 
the English law stood at length before him, with a 
clearness of outline, and distinctness of parts, which 
never afterwards faded from his memory, and which 
subsequent study, aided by long-continued and assid- 
uous practice, enabled him finally to fill out with 
great accuracy and precision in its minor relations 
and minute details. 

On the important subject of Pleas and Pleading, 
Prentice had no books, except a manuscrij^t volume 
of forms, said to have been collected by Theophilus 
Parsons. This the student copied, and added to it, 
in the course of his practice, such other pleas and 
declarations as he thought worthy of preservation, 
whether drawn by himself, or derived from other 
sources. He, at the same time, took copious notes of 
his reading, and formed abstracts and digests of the 
law under separate heads, thus reducing his knowledge 
to a regular system. 

In these assiduous labors, the period of his legal 
studies passed rapidly away. Every day added some- 
thing to his knowledge, and more to the pleasure 
which his studies gave him. He had found, at length, 
his true destination ; and he labored in it with zeal, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 65 

heightened by regret at the thought of the years spent 
by him. in less congenial persuits. These years had not, 
however, been lost upon him. Besides the severe 
mental discipline through which he had passed, they 
had made him acquainted with many aspects of 
society, and brought before him, for keen inspection, 
the minds and the manners of men in the various 
walks of life, and their modes and motives of action. 
Nor was this kind of experience likely soon to fail 
him. 

In February, 1786, he took his seat once more in the 
legislature, which met at Portsmouth, and continued 
in session till early in March. He bore an active part 
in the business of the House, and began now to dis- 
play something of those talents and attainments 
which gave him, at a later period, a commanding 
influence in the state. He cultivated the acquaint- 
ance of the leading men, both in and out of the 
legislature ; and came to understand better than 
before the characters of public men, and the interests 
and the feelings which prevail in the political and 
the civil walks of life. 

After an absence of six or seven weeks, he returned 
with fresh alacrity to his legal studies. Alternately \ 
a law-student and a law-maker, his thoughts were 
turned to practical results, rather than to abstract prin- 
ciples, or theoretical deductions ; and this predilection 
was ever after the marked characteristic of his mind, 



66 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

which was little given to speculation, and not at all 
to untried experiments in pursuit of imaginary good. 

As he no longer resided in E^^ping he was not, this 
year, a candidate for re-election to the House. He 
however attended the Legislature at its Jmie session 
in Concord, where he was employed in draughting 
bills, and supporting petitions before committees of 
the two houses ; extending in the mean time his 
acquaintance with public men, watching the progress 
of public measures and, in some instances, influencing 
their course. 

The aspect of the times was indeed dark and 
gloomy, and had been so for several years. The 
period from the termination of the war to the estab- 
lishment of the general government, if not so stirring 
as the preceding, was one of the most important and 
trying in the history of the country, — a period of 
depression and distress such as had hardly been 
felt in the sharpest crisis of the war itself The 
close of hostilities with England brought with it 
no relief to the sufferings of the people, but seemed 
for a time rather to augment them. A feeling of very 
general discontent pervaded the public mind, no 
longer held in check by a foreign foe. The govern- 
ment was weak and inefficient, the people poor and 
in debt, credit both public and private impaired, or 
rather well nigh destroyed. A depreciated paper 
currency took the place of specie ; tender-laws and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 67 

the further issues of paper were loudly called for 
by the discontented and debtor party, as the only 
remedy for the great and acknowledged evils of the 
times; and the courts of law were more than ever 
surrounded by mobs, whose avowed purjaose was to 
prevent the judges from proceeding in the trial of 
cases. An incident of this kind had occurred a few 
years earlier, which impressed Mr. Plumer deeply 
with a sense of the necessity of a more energetic and 
efficient government; and which was followed at a 
later period, by a similar outbreak of popular feeling, 
in suppressing which he was himself actively engaged. 
In October, 1782, as the Judges of the Superior 
Court, accompanied by John Sullivan, then Attorney 
General, were approaching the town of Keen'e, where 
the general uneasiness was augmented by the contro- 
versy with Vermont, they were informed that the 
village was full of people, whose object was to compel 
the court to adjourn without trying any cases. On 
the receipt of the information, the cavalcade halted 
in a small wood, to consult as to the course proper to 
be adopted in this emergency ; and the result was that 
Sullivan undertook to get the court, with as little loss 
of dignity as might be, out of the hands of the mob, 
who, if resolute, must, it was foreseen, have very 
much their own way, as the court had no armed 
force at its command, and the posse comiiatus would in 
vain have been called to their aid, in the then excited 



68 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

state of the public mind. Taking from the portman- 
teau of his servant his regimentals, which it seems 
he had with him, Gen. Sullivan arrayed himself in his 
full military attire — the blue coat and bright buttons 
which he had worn in the retreat from Long Island, 
the cocked hat whose plume had nodded over the 
foe at Brandywine, and the sword which at German- 
town had flashed defiance in the front of battle. Thus 
equipped, he mounted the powerful gray horse which 
he usually rode, and, preceding the court, conducted 
them into the town. A portion of the people mounted 
on horseback had come out to meet them. These he 
ordered to fall in, two and two, behind the court, 
Arthur Livermore, then a youth of sixteen, acting as 
his volunteer aid on the occasion. The grounds sur- 
rounding the court-house were filled with men, many 
of them armed, who, though giving way to the court 
as they entered, were sullen in their aspect, and reso- 
lute in their purpose to prevent the transaction of 
business. 

The judges having taken their seats, the court was 
opened in due form by the crier, while the crowd 
rushed tumultuously in, and filled the house. In the 
meantime, Sullivan, who was a man of fine personal 
appearance, dignified aspect, and commanding deport- 
ment, was seen standing erect in the clerk's desk, 
surveying the crowd calmly, but resolutely. In it 
were many who had recently served under him in 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 69 

the war. Turning slowly from side to side lie recognis- 
ed among them here perhaps an officer, and there a 
soldier ; and returned with a slight nod or motion of 
the hand their respectful salutations. This mutual sur- 
vey and recognition continued for some time, amidst 
the profound silence of all around ; while the mstinct 
of obedience was working strongly in the mass, who 
felt the presence, and involuntarily obeyed the mo- 
tions of their old commander. Slowly and with 
composure he now took off his cocked hat, disclosing 
a profusion of white powdered hair, and laid it 
deliberately on the table. Looking round again with 
an air of authority, he next unbelted the long stafp- 
like sword from his side, and laid it by the hat. Per- 
ceiving, at this moment, some stir in the crowd, he 
hastily resumed the sword, drew the blade halfway 
from the scabbard, as if for immediate use, and then 
replaced it deliberately on the table. All eyes were 
now fixed intently on him, as he addressed the 
assembly, and demanded of them why they had come 
in this tumultuous manner before the court. A cry 
at once arose of " The Petition, the Petition," and a 
committee stepped forward with a huge roll of paper, 
which they were about to present, when Sullivan told 
them, if they had anything to offer to the court, he 
would lay it before them. He accordingly received 
it, and, after looking it over, presented it to the court, 
saying that it contained matter of grave import, which 



70 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

lie recommended to tlieir honors' careful considera- 
tion. The court ordered it to be read by the clerk, 
and Sullivan then addressed the people, courteously, 
but firmly, on the impropriety of any attempt to influ- 
ence, even by the appearance of violence, the delib- 
erations of that high tribunal ; and, telling them that 
their petition would, in due time, be considered by the 
court, he directed them to withdraw. Some hesita- 
tion being at first shown, he rej)eated, more sternly, 
and with a repellent gesture, the command to with- 
draw, which was obeyed, though not without some 
reluctance among the leaders. The court then ad- 
journed to the next day, in the hope that the mob 
would leave the town. In the afternoon Sullivan 
addressed them on the subject of their complamts, 
and advised them to return to their homes. 

On the opening of the court, on the next morning, 
the house was full of people impatient for the 
expected answer to their petition. Sullivan, now in 
his citizen's dress, rose, and, with mingled grace and 
dignity, said that he was instructed by the court to 
inform them, that, finding that they should not be 
able to go through with the very heavy civil docket 
before them in the short time which they could alone 
devote to it before going to another county, they 
would continue all causes in which either party was 
not ready for a trial. On receiving this announce- 
ment the people withdrew, amidst loud shouts of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 71 

hurrah for Gen. Sullivan/' with here and there a faint 
cheer for the court, which seemed on this occasion 
to act quite a subordinate part in the scene. The 
mob thus carried in effect their main point, that of 
postponing the transaction of business; but the 
presence of mind and authority of the Attorney 
General prevented their breaking out into open 
violence, and saved the court from any personal 
indignity. 

I received the above account from Mr. Webster, 
a short time before his death ; when, though occu- 
pied with current events, he seemed to have lost none 
of his interest in the past. He added, "Put this into 
your book ; it will show the character of the times, 
and the kind of men 3^our father had to deal with." 
I repeated the story, soon after, to Judge Liver- 
more, who supplied the part relating to himself, and 
seemed inclined to give less prominence to Sullivan, 
and more to the court, than Webster had done. He 
retained, however, in extreme old age, a lively recol- 
lection of his youthful adventure, and of the skill and 
eloquence of Sullivan. " I thought," he said, " if I 
could only look and talk like that man I should want 
nothing higher or better in this world." 

In Massachusetts a similar condition of things, in the 
autumn of 1786, produced the rising called Shays's 
rebellion ; and in this state, at an earlier period of 
that year, events seemed fast tending to a like danger- 



iZ LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

ous issue. Town and county conventions were held 
in various places, to petition the Legislature for a 
redress of grievances, and delegations from some of 
these conventions were sent to Concord, in June of 
this year, to present these petitions, and to carry out 
the objects of their appointment. 

Satisfied from the character of the men and the 
temper of the times, that reasoning w^ould be lost 
upon them, my father, who, as already stated, was at 
Concord, though not a member, conceived the idea 
of turning their proposed convention of delegates 
into ridicule, and thus rendering its pernicious pur- 
pose harmless. He was aided in the project by 
several active young men, some of wdiom were after- 
wards distinguished in the service of the state. The 
plan was for these persons to join the convention, to 
take part in its proceedings, and ultimately to expose 
the folly and absurdity of its measures and pretensiors. 

On entering the convention they were received 
without question, as delegates from their respective 
towns, and took at once the lead in its proceedings. 
After a debate of several hours, in wdiich the pre- 
tended delegates, eleven in number, vied with the true 
ones in their zeal for reform, taking different sides, 
however, to avoid an appearance of concert, a series 
of resolutions was adopted by the meeting, and a 
committee, of which my father Avas chairman, was 
appointed to report a petition to the Legislature. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 73 

This petition, which was reported the next morning, 
embodied the substance of the resolutions, and was 
unanimously adopted by the convention. It requested 
the Legislature, among other things, to abolish the 
Court of Common Pleas, to establish town courts, to 
restrict the number of lawyers to two in a county, 
and to provide for the issue of state notes to the 
amount of three millions of dollars, the same to be 
a legal tender in payment of all debts. These were 
the favorite measures, especially the last, of the dis- 
contented and debtor party, through the state; and 
they went not at all beyond the popular demand. 
The mock members, indeed, with all their disposition 
to render the convention ridiculous, could hardly keep 
pace with the real ones, in the extravagance of their 
suggestions. Dr. Jonathan Gove, of New Boston, who 
represented ten towns in Hillsborough County, said, 
"While we are money-making, 'tis best to emit as 
much as will discharge all our debts, public and 
private, and leave enough to buy a glass of grog 
and a quid of tobacco, without being dunned for 
them twenty times a day. For these purposes I 
move that the amount be twelve millions of dol- 
lars." It was on my father's motion that the 
sum was finally fixed at "only three millions!" 
The convention went in a body to present their 
petition to the Legislature, which received them very 
gravely, and laid their memorial on the table. The 



74 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

speaker and some of the leading members had been 
informed of the character of the convention, and 
received its visit with ceremonious attention, or, as 
one of the delegates said, " with superfluous respect." 
On returning to their place of meeting, my father 
remonstrated with them warmly on their proceedings, 
and avowed his opposition to their whole system of 
measures. This sudden change of tone, in one who 
had been the chairman of their committee, and the 
draughtsman of their memorial to the Legislature, 
created not a little surprise, and some indignation, in 
those who did not understand the trick Avhich had 
been j)ut upon them. After allowing these feelings to 
explode, in some rather free remarks, from two or 
three of the more earnest reformers, one of the mock 
members, who thought the joke might be carried a 
little further, rose, and said with great gravity, that 
as doubts had arisen in some minds, whether the 
convention was sufficiently in earnest in what they 
had said and done, this movement of the worthy 
member from Derry was intended to put their cour- 
age to the test ; to see, in short, if they were indeed 
men of true pluck, or cowards who could be driven 
from their purpose by a show of opposition. If he 
found they could stand fire, he was ready to pro- 
pose to them more energetic measures, which would 
compel the Legislature to comply with their wishes. 
This speech was received with loud applause by the 



LIFF OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 75 

more ignorant and zealous; but the greater part 
began now to understand tbe true state of the case, 
and the convention broke up in disorder, amid the 
jeers of the spectators, and to the sore mortification 
of its original projectors. Gove left Concord without 
presenting the petition with which he was charged, 
and others disavowed their connection with the con- 
vention. The ridicule which this brought upon them, 
checked their activity for a time, and prevented their 
success with the Legislature, where thej had many 
friends, and had felt great confidence of success. " The 
whole affair," writes the author of this clever strata- 
gem to his brother, June 9th, 1786, "was so farcical 
that the very name of a convention is here a term of 
reproach." 

But the evil was too deeply rooted to be thus easily 
removed. New conventions were called in different 
parts of the State, and among others, one in London- 
derry, where my father then resided. In the Rock- 
ingliam convention, held in Chester, it was resolved 
to send to Exeter, where the Legislature was to meet 
in September, a body of armed men to enforce their 
claims. On the 20th of that month about two hun- 
dred men, under the command of Joseph French of 
Hampstead and James Cochrain of Pembroke, some 
armed with muskets, and others with clubs, marched 
into Exeter, and sent in their petition to the General 
Court, for a redress of grievances, declaring their 



76 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

intention, if it was not granted, to do themselves 
justice. Tliey surrounded the house in wliich the 
Legislature was in session, and, placing sentinels at 
the doors and windows, demanded an immediate 
answer to their petition. The House appointed a 
committee on the petition ; but the Senate, under the 
influence of Sullivan, who was now President of the 
State, and as such, had a seat in the Senate, refused 
to act on the subject, while they were thus besieged 
by the mob, and proceeded with their ordinary busi- 
ness. In the mean time a party of the friends of 
order, among whom my father was one, armed them- 
selves, and called upon all good citizens to disperse 
the mob, and thus set the members of the Legislature 
at liberty. General Sullivan came out, accompanied 
by Nathaniel Peabody, who was supposed to favor 
their designs, Ebenezer AVebster, and other officers 
of the revolution and friends of government, and, 
addressing the mob, ordered them to disperse. The 
armed citizens in their rear, pressing on them at the 
same time, and calling for the artillery to advance, 
though in fact there was no artillery at hand, the mob 
began to disperse, and French, finding that the Legisla- 
ture could not be frightened into compliance with his 
demands, ordered his men to withdraw, and retired 
with them for the night to a distance from the village. 
Sullivan, no longer compelled, as at Keene, to yield 
to the wishes of the mob, dispatched orders to the 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 77 

militia, who came in the next morning to the 
number of nearly two thousand men. My father 
with five others had, in the meantime, arrested 
one of the leaders of the insurrection, Captain 
John McKean, of Londonderry, who had come into 
town to obtain intelligence for the insurgents. On 
being discovered, he drew a pistol and threatened to 
shoot whoever should approach him ; but my father 
closed in upon him and made him prisoner. A party 
sent to demand his release was at once seized and put 
under guard. The troops, under Maj. Gen. Joseph 
Cilley, now marched against the insurgents, who made 
some show of resistance, but, on being ordered by 
Major Cochrain to fire, they broke and fled in disor- 
der. " Vie took," says my father, " thirty-nine prison- 
ers, who, after marching through our columns with 
their heads uncovered, and hats under their arms, 
the music playing the Rogue's March, were lodged in 
jail." In Parker's History of Londonderry it is said, 
that the troops were under the command of General 
George Reed ; my father says, under that of General 
Cilley. Reed may have been present, and Cilley led 
the charge. Cilley was Major General at this time, 
and Reed Brigadier. AVhiton says, " General Cilley 
with a troop of horse made a rapid charge on them." 
The question now arose as to what should be their 
punishment. They had been guilty, perhaps of 
treason, certainly of some high offence. The leaders 



78 , LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

were brought before the two Houses in convention. 
French, who seems to have been an honest, but delud- 
ed man, made very humble supplications for his life. 
Cochrain, who had been a soldier in the revolution, 
plead for pardon with some self-respect, urging his 
past services, and stating, as did French, that he had 
been encouraged in the course he had taken, by men 
of high standing in the state, some of them members 
of the Legislature, who, when the hour of trial came, 
had kept out of sight, and now denied all connection 
with them. " I was now as anxious," says my fiither, 
in a letter to his friend John Hale, (Sept. 26th, 1786,) 
" to have these men discharged, as I had been busy 
on Wednesday in capturing them. As usual in such 
cases, those who were forward in taking them were 
inclined to mercy, while those, who in the hour of 
danger were in the background, were the most violent 
against the deluded prisoners. They Avill, I trust, be 
dismissed, reserving a few only of the leaders for 
punishment." This was accordingly done. Those 
who were church members were dealt with by their 
churches ; those who were officers in the militia were 
dismissed from the service. Most of them were 
indicted, but allowed, at the next term of the Court, 
to escape without punishment. It was deemed good 
policy, as no blood had been shed, to treat this first 
attempt at armed resistance to the government with 
lenity ; yet so as to vindicate the violated authority 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 79 

of tlie law, thus attacked at the fountain head. French, 
the Wat Tyler of this rebellion, was a well-meaning, 
but vain and conceited man, whom the agitations of 
the times had thrown upon the surface, as the largest 
bubble amid the froth and feculence of an uneasy 
and restless populace. On leaving home with his 
party, he had told his townsmen who staid behind, 
that he was going on an important public mission, in 
which he might himself make no mean figure, and 
that they must not be too much surprised if, within a 
week, they should hear that he, whom they had hith- 
erto known as plain Joe French, was no longer their 
neighbor and equal merely, but President and Com- 
mander in Chief of the State of New Hampshire ! 
These visions of power and of glory had, in the brief 
space of three days, vanished from his sight, and he 
found himself a despised prisoner and a suppliant 
for his life.* 

This was the only occasion on which my father ever 
bore arms, or made any approach to the character of 
a soldier. He entered into the contest with the more 
zeal, as he looked on moWaw as subversive of the 
first principles of a free government, and was jealous 
of all interference with the constituted authorities. 
" If the Legislature," he wrote to Hale, while the con- 
test was stiU undecided, " will maintain their dignity 

* I had this anecdote of the speech of French to his townsmen, from 
Daniel Webster, whose father was at Exeter at the time. 



80 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

within their own walls, they will receive ample sup- 
port and reverence without. They ought to give the 
tone, and not receive it from the people. T\\Qfew, and 
not the man.f/, are the wise, and ought to bear rule." 

On his return to Londonderry, he was told that his 
activity in suppressing the insurrection had exasper- 
ated the people of the town, many of whom had 
been out with French and Cochrain; and that it 
would not be safe for him to show himself among 
them. On hearing these threats, he mounted his 
horse the next morning, and rode leisurely and alone 
through the infected district, stopping to converse 
with those he met, and calling on several whom he 
had seen among the insurgents at Exeter. He was 
received by some with congratulations on his courage 
and activity, and with jests on their own ill-luck and 
folly ; by others Avith abject fawning and humility, or 
with awkwardly assumed respect ; but by none w^ith 
menace, reproach, or disrespect. They felt that the 
day for violence had gone by, and that he was not a 
man whom they could insult with impunity. Many 
of them afterwards acknowledged that he deserved 
their respect far more than those cunning and cow- 
ardly men, who had urged them on in the first 
instance, and then deserted and denounced them. 

From this excursion into the field of politics, I 
might almost say of war, he gladly returned early in 
October to the quiet of his legal studies, and to the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 81 

duties of tlie oJBfice. Prentice, who was indolent and 
careless, willingly left him to manage the business in 
his own way, which he as willingly undertook. 

He had a natural aptitude for business ; thinking 
nothing of the labor, or rather seeming to love it on 
its own account. For the ensuing year, 1787, there- 
fore, he continued to reside with Prentice, pursuing 
with great assiduity and with increasing pleasure his 
legal studies ; attending the courts while in session, 
and doing the office and now also the justice business, 
which last was then an extensive branch of practice. 

He had not expected to be admitted to the bar 
till February of the next year, as he had been absent 
nearly three months out of the two years then requir- 
ed. But, he being at Exeter in November, 1787, the 
bar, without any previous examination, and without 
his knowledge, recommended him to the court, by 
which he was at once admitted to practice. John 
Hale, of Portsmouth, and Jonathan Steele, of Peter- 
borough, were admitted at the same time. With 
Hale, who was a man of fine talents, he Avas on terms 
of great intimacy, and they corresponded till the 
death of Hale. Steele was afterwards a Judge of the 
Superior Court On being admitted to the bar, my 
father returned to Epping, went to live on his farm, 
and opened an office there. His business was con- 
siderable from the first, and soon became extensive. 

The time which he had passed at Londonderry had 



82 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

been pleasantly and profitably employed, and he had 
many reasons ever after to remember it with satis- 
faction. Young, and ambitious of distinction, orig- 
inal and peculiar in many of his views, eager in the 
pursuit of knowledge, and ready alike to impart and 
to receive information, he entered earnestly into what- 
ever he undertook, and felt himself equally happy 
and well-employed, whether in study, in action, or in 
society ; finding in each full occupation for all his 
powers, now first conscious of their appropriate sphere 
of activity and exertion. 

The Scotch Irish of Derry were a people distin- 
guished from their neighbors by many peculiar 
customs and striking traits of character. Combining 
the broad humor of the Irish with the canny shrewd- 
ness of their Scottish ancestors, they were a deeply- 
marked, strong-willed, and eccentric people. Their 
originality, energy, and decision of character were 
akin to his own, and led to mutual respect and esteem ; 
though on many subjects he differed widely from 
them. I was told, many years ago, by the noted sur- 
veyor and mathematician, John McDuffee, who was 
a Derry man, that my father made a very strong 
impression on aU who knew him at that time ; that 
he was full, to overflowing, of life and activity, — 
a life which seemed ever happy and joyous, and an 
activity which pushed itself out in every direction ; 
prompt in business, and ready in debate ; a great stu- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 83 

dent, and a lively and original talker, whose sharp say- 
ings were in every body's mouth, and whose heterodox 
opinions brought down on him the censure of the old 
and the rigid, while they excited the wonder and 
the admiration of younger and more inquisitive 
minds. 

In the spring or early summer of this year, 1787, 
he formed the acquaintance of one who was thence- 
forth to be the companion of his leisure, the mother 
of his children, and the sharer, for good or evil, of his 
hopes and his fears, his prosperous and his adverse for- 
tunes. This was Sally Fowler, the only daughter of 
Philip Fowler, a respectable farmer of New Market. 
He had seen her some years before, at the house of 
her father, whom he had visited on business. On 
returning home he told his mother that he had seen 
the person whom he should choose for a wife, if he 
should ever entertain serious thoughts of marriage. 
Time and change passed over him, and as years 
advanced, and the want of some object on which his 
affections might repose began to be deeply felt, it is 
not strange that on meeting again with Miss Fowler, 
who was now on a visit to her friends in Londonderry, 
his old feelings towards her should revive with more 
than their original force. It was during the Derry 
Fair, which brought together people from all the 
neighboring towns, and at a mock court in which he 
and several other young men took part, that she first 



84 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

witnessed tlie display of his oratorical powers. On 
leaving the house the girls were discussing the merits 
of the several speakers, and most of them gave the 
preference to the ready wit and handsome person of 
Moses L. Neal. " A lucky girl is she/' said her cousin, 
" who gets that bonny bairn for a husband." " Ay, 
ay," was the ready response of several voices. "No," 
said my mother ; " if I were to choose, it would be 
that Epping lawyer, clearly before all the rest." 
" What," said her lively cousin, " with his lean figure, 
long nose, and dark complexion ?" " Yes," was the 
prompt answer, " with his manly face, and his bright, 
beautiful eyes; and what is more," she added, "with 
his good sense, and his right feeling. I think he is 
superior to any of them." The preference thus cas- 
ually expressed, followed soon by an avowal of like 
feelings on his part, ripened into an attachment which 
lasted in both to the close of life. 

She is described as being at this time of a singu- 
larly fair complexion, fine person, possessing great 
.sweetness of disposition, pleasing manners, sound sense, 
and good judgment. That she was all this, even to 
the fair complexion and fine person, those who knew 
.her in old age will readily believe. 

It was not till after full acquaintance that they 
were finally and formally engaged to each other. In 
•this most important step of life Mr. Plumer had, as 
usual with him, the severe check of reason over his 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 85 

affections. He made no formal proffer of himself till 
he was satisfied in his own mind that the attachment 
was, on his part, not the mere impulse of hasty passion, 
but a deliberate purpose, moved by feeling indeed, 
yet guided by reason; and that on her part too it 
was equally sincere and deep-rooted. Satisfied of 
the depth and sincerity of their mutual attachment, 
he gave himself to this new passion with his usual 
directness, and with even more than his usual ardor. 
Between the excitements of hope, love and ambition, 
study and business, he felt the old vigor and warmth 
of his intellect and his heart, which had been first 
roused and excited by the fever of his religious enthu- 
siasm, and then perplexed and cooled by the disgust 
of his subsequent disappointment and unbelief, come 
back to him in their pristine strength and purity, in 
brighter prospects, in purer hopes, and nobler aspi- 
rations of enjoyment for himself, and usefulness to 
others. 

The year which followed this engagement was 
among the happiest of his life. The vague feeling of 
a want of object no longer remained. His doubts, 
fears and anxieties were relieved, his ambition was 
excited, and his scheme of life was shaping itself into 
definite purpose, with a steady aim to speedy action. 

Love and fortune-telling have been immemorial- 
ly connected, and they were so in this case. Just 
before my mother went to Derry, an old woman came 



86 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

in, one day, who offered to tell her fortune. This 
proposal she at first declined, but consented at the 
request of her mother. After examining her hand, 
and inspecting the dregs of a cup of tea, the sibyl 
proceeded with her prediction : " You are courted," 
she said, " by a widower. He is young and handsome," 
of a light complexion, and dressed in black." " You 
have been inquiring of the neighbors," said my 
mother, who had in fact received the addresses of a 
person answering to this description, whom on nearer 
acquaintance she had determined to reject. "But 
you will not marry him," added the fortune-teller. 
Here the mother, who favored the match, began to 
look serious, and said, " None of your nonsense." She, 
however, went on, " You will not marry him. Here," 
pointing to another part of the cup, " is your hus- 
band, — this tall, dark complexioned man, with black 
eyes and black hair. He will carry you into a new 
house painted red, with a number of old houses near 
it. These will be pulled down and new ones built. 
You will have six children. Your husband will be- 
come rich, and arrive at great honors ; and you will 
both live to a good old age." In telling me this story, 
my mother added, " I did not then believe a word 
that she said, except what I sujoposed she had learned 
from the neighbors ; nor do I now know what to think 
of it. One thing is certain, that all she told me has since 
come to pass. You may call it a lucky guess, or what 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 87 

you will ; but the facts are as I have told you." The 
old woman left the house immediately; and, on 
inquiry, they could learn nothing of her in the 
neighborhood. No one had seen her, and she never 
came to see them again. My father, who had no faith 
in such stories, said that the old woman was doubt- 
less some friend of his, (though he knew nothing of 
her,) whose good opinion of him was the secret of her 
divination. Yet, while laughing at my mother for 
her credulity in this case, he admitted that the circum- 
stances were remarkable ; and said that he had himself, 
more than once, seen and heard things, apparently su- 
pernatural, which he could neither doubt of explain 
away. In these days of clairvoyance and spiritual 
revelations, the facts in this case seem worth relat- 
ing, as adding something authentic to the mass of 
evidence, out of which a consistent theory may in 
time be constructed on the subject. There are already 
facts too well authenticated to admit of doubt, and too 
numerous to be set aside on the score of improbability, 
pointing to conclusions strange and most unexpected, 
which it is the part of wisdom neither blindly to 
reject, nor rashly to admit. 

After her return to New Market my mother met 
with an accident which threatened to deprive her of 
the use of one of her hands, and, with the high spirit 
of a woman who felt that she ought not to be a 
burden to the man whom she loved, she told him, with 



05 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

tears but with fixed purpose, that she could never 
consent to go maimed or a cripple into his house, and 
that he must therefore consider their engagement as 
now at an end. He remonstrated strongly against 
this decision, and said that however it resulted she 
would be equally dear to him, and he would take no 
denial on such grounds. She gave him, however, no 
hope, except in the event of recovery. He returned, 
full of sorrow, with the sad news to his mother, who 
prepared and sent back by him a prescription which 
in due time effected a cure. The lame hand, or 
rather the well hand, then returned gladly where the 
heart had gone before. The impatient lover was, 
indeed, at this time, in no condition to support in idle- 
ness a helpless wife ; for, though he owned a half- 
finished house, and some land, he was five hundred 
dollars in debt for his education, and had as yet little 
business on which he could rely. Neither of them, 
however, felt much anxiety, provided only that their 
health was good, and they had strength to labor. They 
were accordingly married without further delay, Feb- 
ruary 12th, 1788, and, as soon as the necessary arrange- 
ments could be made, commenced house-keeping, 
April 1st, on the spot and in the mansion where they 
ever after resided. 

In carrying home his bride, he obtained the use 
of the only chaise then owned in Epping. This 
belonged to his cousin, Enoch Coffin, who, being orig- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 89 

inall J a Newbury man, had been the first to introduce 
into the town what was then a rare luxury, and, as 
his ruder neighbors thought, an item of unnecessary 
ex23ense and unjustifiable extravagance. Riding on 
horseback was then almost the only mode of travel- 
ling. Horses were trained to pace, or rack, which 
was much easier to the rider than trotting. In 
this way the longest journeys were performed — 
often over roads which hardly admitted of any 
other mode of conveyance. When the distance 
was short, as to the meeting house, or to a 
neio-hborin": town, the same horse often carried the 
good man and the wife, with a child in her arms, on 
the pillion behind. I was carried once in this way, 
from Epping to New Market, and back the same day. 
Our more ordinary mode of conveyance was for the 
father and child to be mounted on one horse, and the 
mother on a second. This was for some years our 
only resource. When pressed by business, and impor- 
tuned by the children for a ride, my father would 
sometimes say to us, "Wait a while, till I get more 
money, and we will then have a coach of our own, 
and leisure to ride as often as we please." The coach, 
however, never came, and not so much of the leisure 
as we could have desired ; but the enjoyment was 
none the less real when we rode out together, the 
children, one in the lap, and two in front, in the old- 



90 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

fashioned, square-topped chaise, which he found 
himself able, in due time, to own. This, however, 
was at a later period. In the meanwhile, prudence, 
industry, and temperance brought with them their 
usual rewards of health and enjoyment, followed 
first by competence, and finally, by what, in a 
country town like this, at least, was accounted 
wealth. The sibyl's prophecy of the six children was 
also beginning to be fulfilled, first, in the birth of 
a son, the author of this Memoir, February 9th, 1789, 
then of a daughter, followed by that of fovir sons — 
one of whom died in infancy, another just before his 
parents, while the others still survive. 

Fortunate, indeed, was he in the partner of his 
life. A piety sincere, but without ostentation or 
display; an affectionate regard, and even reverence 
for her husband ; the most unwearied care of her 
children ; a steady supervision and control of her 
household affairs; prudence, economy, good sense, and 
sweetness of temper, were among the virtues of her 
daily life. Though not young when married, they lived 
together for sixty-three years, not only without the 
slightest jar or discord, but with a tenderness always 
warm, and increasing to the close of life, — a rare 
example of maternal fondness and fatherly care, 
which their children alone could fully appreciate, 
though known to, and remarked by the wide circle of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 91 

tlieir friends and acquaintance. The wife differed 
indeed from her husband, in having little taste for 
literature, yet her knowledge, derived principally 
from conversation, was extensive, and, for all practi- 
cal puriDOses, fully adequate to her needs. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE LEGISLATOR. 



The year 1787 is memorable as that in which the 
constitution of the United States was formed. Highly 
as that instrument is now prized, it was not received 
with much favor by the people on its first promulga- 
tion. It met, in all the states, with many opponents ; 
and in several it was adopted only after repeated 
trials, and by small majorities. In more than half 
the states, its ratification was accompanied by pro- 
posed amendments, some of them of a character 
materially affecting its essential provisions. Without 
these proposals of amendment it would probably have 
been rejected by a majority of the states. A gov- 
ernment, in the proper sense of that word, was by this 
constitution, for the first time, proposed for the Union. 
It is not strange, therefore, that there should have 
been differences of ojDinion, not only as to its necessity, 
but, that admitted, as to the nature and extent of the 
powers to be delegated. The votes of the revolu- 
tionary congress had no legislative authority. They 
were recommendations, to which a sense of common 
danger alone gave the force of laws. Even the arti- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 93 

cles of confederation, which "did not go into operation 
till 1781, merely formed a league or alliance between 
independent states. What was now proposed was, not 
a compact between sovereign communities, bound onl}- 
by treaty stipulations, but a frame of government for 
the people of the United States ; acting not on state 
legislatures, but on individuals ; a government limit- 
ed in its powers, but supreme within its own sphere 
of action, and dependent on its own agents alone for 
the execution of its purposes. Whether such a gov- 
ernment should be adopted was the question now 
presented to the people for their decision. By some 
it was contended that the separate states could, in 
ordinary times, best govern themselves ; that their 
interests were in many respects different, and in some 
adverse ; and that a general government must favor 
some at the expense of others, and might end in 
oppressing all. In time of peace, said they, let each 
state govern, as best it can, its own citizens ; entering 
into such compacts with its neighbors as their mutual 
interests may require. These leagues will form, by 
degrees, clusters of contiguous states, one at the 
north, another in the centre, a third at the south, and 
in due time, others in the west. A war with any 
great European power, if such an event should occur, 
would lead, as in the revolution, to the union of 
the whole ; the union lasting while the danger from 
abroad pressed upon them, and leaving them, at its 



94 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

close, sej)arate and independent. Others, who did not 
go this length, thought that little was wanted by the 
congress of the confederacy beyond what it already 
possessed, except the power to regulate commerce 
with foreign nations, and to decide, in the way of 
arbitration, questions of boundary, and other disputes 
which might arise between the states. These latter, 
no less than the former, were opposed to the estab- 
lishment of any general government. Even among 
those who admitted the necessity of such a govern- 
ment, many thought that its powers should be much 
more limited than those contained in the new constitu- 
tion, which in their view had, in the language of Pat- 
rick Henry, "an awful squinting towards monarchy." 
They looked with apprehension on its most impor- 
tant provisions, and saw danger to the liberties of the 
people in its vast, undefined, and, in many respects, 
undefinable powers. They held that the proposed 
constitution should be rejected, and another formed 
with powers more limited and better defined. 

On the other hand, so various were the shades of 
opinion, and so differently did men, equally intelligent, 
think on the same subject, that there were not want- 
ing those wdio held that the great defect of the new 
constitution was its want, rather than its excess, of 
power for the purposes of its institution. The danger 
which they feared was, not tyranny in the head, but 
anarchy in the limbs ; and they predicted that, in any 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 95 

serious contest between the general government and 
the states, the latter would be found the stronger of 
the two. Washington, Hamilton, Jay, and probably 
Madison, were of this opinion. They, liowever, gave 
to the constitution their cordial support, as the best that 
could then be obtained, and as likely, if adopted, to 
lead, in time, to something better. Hamilton had pro- 
posed in the convention, as expressing his idea of what 
was desirable, an executive, judiciary and senate, to 
hold their offices during good behavior, and a house 
of assembly to be chosen for three years. Madison's 
first plan for preserving the subordination of the states 
to the general government was either to give congress 
a veto on the state laws, or to vest the appointment 
of the governors of all the states in the President and 
Senate. "Real liberty," said Hamilton, "is neither 
found in despotism, nor in the extremes of democracy, 
but in moderate governments. Those who mean to 
form a solid republican government ought to proceed 
to the confines of another government," that is, mon- 
archy. 

We have, in these facts, a clew to the origin of the 
two great parties which have since divided the coun- 
tr}^ ; and Avhich were not long in drawing into their 
vortex the various local parties and associations, that 
had before disturbed the states, without being broad 
enough to embroil the continent in their action. The 
friends of the new form of government took the name 



96 TIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of Federalists, or supporters of the Federal consti- 
tution; their antagonists that of anti-Federalists, or 
opposers of the constitution. After its ratification, 
the friends of the first two administrations retained 
the name of Federalists, while their opponents took 
that of Republicans. To these first party names 
have succeeded those of Whigs and Democrats. It 
would, however, be a mistake to suppose, that either 
party has been, at all times, true to its avolved prin- 
ciples. The Republicans in office were often liberal, 
and the Federalists out of office strict, in their con- 
struction of the constitution ; and claimed or denied 
authority, in many cases, very much as the one party 
was to gain or the other lose by its exertion. In 
general, however, the Federalists were in favor of a 
liberal construction and exercise of the powers of the 
general government ; and the Republicans, in theory 
always, and to a considerable extent in practice, were 
for narrowing down those powers to their least possible 
extent. The former deemed a strong central author- 
ity necessary to the welfare of the whole ; the latter, 
dreading such authority in the general government, 
leaned strongly to state rights and state power, as 
paramount to all others. Men equally honest and in- 
telligent have belonged to both these parties. Even 
the same individual might, as in fact many did, act 
with little or no inconsistency, at different times, with 
either party, as he thought the one or the other 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 97 

pushing its doctrines, in any given case, into an 
extreme injurious to the pubhc interests. Other 
marked differences have, at all times, existed between 
the two parties ; but this showed itself from the first, 
and may be regarded as fundamental. In a case of 
delegated power, the first question always is. Does it 
exist ? and the second. Shall it be exercised in this 
case ? Such is the united influence of interest and 
feeling over the mind, that the decision of the second 
question very generally carries the first with it. 
Those who think the power beneficial, have little 
difficulty in finding it in the constitution; while 
those who, for any cause, do not wish to use it, read- 
ily persuade themselves that it is not there. Public 
opinion overrides constitutional barriers; and finds, 
perhaps, its only effectual control, in an adverse 
public opinion, equally fixed and unjdelding. "Paper 
and parchment bind not hearts and hands." 

The question, however, was not, on this occasion, 
as to the value of constitutions in general, but as to 
the policy of adopting the one now proposed. On 
this point my father had no doubts. He was a Fed- 
eralist, in the sense of being in favor of the new 
constitution, and he used his utmost exertions to 
secure its adoption in New Hampshire. He was a 
candidate for a seat in the convention, but was not 
elected, the town of Epping being decidedly anti- 
Federal. In a letter to Daniel Tilton (Dec. 10th, 



98 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

1787,) he says: "The constitution is opposed here 
by many, because they think it a grant of too much 
power. My fears are all the other way. In my 
opinion, the executive is not strong enough; and the 
powers delegated to the Congress, though in some 
respects ample, are in others too much restricted." 

The convention, which met at Exeter (Feb. 13th, 
1788,) to consider the new constitution, adjourned, 
after a session of ten days, in which it was ascer- 
tained that a majority of the members would vote 
against it, if the question was then pushed to a deci- 
sion. They met again at Concord, and agreed to 
ratify it, (June 21st, 1788,) by a vote of fifty-seven 
yeas to forty-seven nays ; but not without proposing 
several amendments. The ratification of nine States 
was required to put the new government into opera- 
tion, and the accession of New Hampshire completed 
that number. The amendments proposed had for 
their general object to restrict within narrower limits 
the powers of the federal government, and to define 
more precisely the rights of the people. The debates 
in this convention were never reported. A speech 
of Joshua Atherton against the clause of the consti- 
tution which allowed the importation of slaves prior 
to 1808 has been published; and tradition has also 
preserved a remark made by him on the slave rep- 
resentation. " If property," he said, " is to be repre- 
sented in Congress, and in the electoral colleges, our 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 99 

neat stock is as well entitled to be counted as the 
blac/c cattle of the South. By this slave representation 
you put the yoke on your own necks, and make the 
slaveholders masters, at the North as well as at the 
South." This subject did not then attract much of 
the popular attention ; but sagacious men, whose 
minds were sharpened to fault-finding by dislike of 
other parts of the constitution, saw in it, even then, 
the germs of evil, which have since been largely 
developed. 

My father's federalism did not prevent the people 

of Epping from sending him (March, 1788,) to the 

Legislature. In going to Concord to attend the 

November session, (for there were three during the 

year,) he met with an adventure, which could hardly 

occur in the present state of the country. It was 

after the adjournment of the court at Exeter, in the 

afternoon, that he left that place to take his seat, the 

next morning, in the House at Concord. He reached 

home about dark, fiUed out several writs on demands 

which had been left in the ofS.ce during his absence, 

and, mounting his horse, pursued his journey towards 

Concord. At Deerfield, his friend Mills urged him to 

stay with him till the next morning ; but, though 

faint from recent illness, and fatigued with his labors 

in court, he left Deerfield between eleven and twelve, 

and was soon lost in the AUenstown woods. He now 

heard the howling of wolves, and perceived that 



100 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

he was followed by them. It was dark, his horse 
became frightened, and he was obliged to stop. The 
wolves howled, whined, and rushed forward close 
upon him, without daring, however, actually to attack 
the horse. After a while he succeeded in urging his 
horse on, still followed by these unwelcome attend- 
ants. It was not till the moon came out, as he 
emerged from the woods, that they ceased the pur- 
suit ; and he heard, for some time, their long howl 
dying by degrees on his ear, as he traversed the open 
plain. It was daylight when he reached Pembroke, 
where, as he rode up to the tavern, he met President 
Langdon, just coming from his chamber. Langdon 
was surprised to find him mounted so early in the 
morning, and more so on learning the adventures of 
the night. They rode together to Concord, and he 
was in his seat when the speaker called the house to 
order. It was by this disregard of personal conven- 
ience in the discharge of duty, this promptness and 
celerity of movement, that he often delighted his 
friends, and surprised his opponents, by the seeming 
ubiquity of his presence ; the night being spent in 
-solitary and, sometimes, dangerous rides, because 
every hour of the day was pre-occupied with other 
.engagements, and this, too, when the state of his 
health was such as would have been deemed by most 
men a sufficient excuse for inaction. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 101 

He early acquired a decided influence in the House. 
" I sjDoke often," he says, " but never long, and con- 
fined myself strictly to the business in hand ; taking 
care to avoid all personal reflections, except on one 
occasion, when the nature of the case seemed to 
require a different course." His conduct on the 
occasion alluded to was too characteristic to be here 
omitted. It was in the choice of senators to the first 
Congress under the new constitution. That instru- 
ment, in directing that senators shall be chosen by 
the State Legislatures, does not designate the mode 
in which the choice shall be made. By some it was 
contended that the Senate and House, meeting in 
convention, should there, by joint ballot, make the 
election. By others it was held that the election 
should be by the separate, but concurrent action of 
the two houses. This was my father's opinion ; and, 
as the Senate refused to go into convention, it was 
also the mode finally adopted by the House. On 
proceeding to a ballot in the House, (Nov. 11th, 
1788,) it appeared that John Langdon had received 
all but three of the votes. My father then offered a 
resolution, which, after reciting the previous ballot, 
provided " that John Langdon be, and he hereby is, 
appointed a senator, on the part of this State, to the 
Congress of the United States," and called for the 
yeas and nays on the question of its adoj)tion. 
Nathaniel Peabody, who was himself a candidate for 



102 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the Senate, and had friends who did not wish to have 
it known how they voted, objected to the resolution 
as inconsistent with the principle of the choice by 
ballot, or secret vote. My father rfeplied with some 
warmth that he could not believe that any man, wor- 
thy of a seat on that floor, wished to conceal, either 
from the public or from his constituents, his vote on 
a question of so great importance ; but that, however 
this might be, he could not forego his right to have 
the yeas and nays entered on the journal in this case. 
As there was, in fact, no one who wished to conceal 
his vote in the case of Langdon, the resolution passed 
without further opposition, and was on the same day 
concurred in by the Senate. The next day the 
choice of the second Senator came on in the House. 
The candidates were Josiah Bartlett and Nathaniel 
Peabody. Peabody was a man of talents, an active 
politician, but of doubtful integrity, and unscrupulous 
in the use of means to effect his objects. He had 
been a member of the revolutionary Congress, a 
member of the Committee of Safety, and for many 
years an influential member of the Legislature. He 
was an anti-Federalist ; but, as national politics had 
hardly yet assumed a permanent influence in the 
state, he received the support of many Federalists in 
the House, and of some out of it who were leaders in 
the party. When, on taking the ballot, it appeared 
that Peabody had a majority of the votes, the same 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 103 

resolution was offered as in the case of Langdon, and 
the yeas and nays called for. The object of these 
calls was now apparent. It was, in the first instance, 
to establish a precedent ; and, in the second, to make 
it bear on Peabody. When the clerk was about to 
call the roll, my father rose and addressed the House, 
with great force and plainness, on the relative claims 
of the rival candidates ; and denounced Peabody, 
who was present, as morally, politically and person- 
ally unfit for the place, and unworthy of the public 
confidence. On taking the question by yeas and 
nays, Peabody was found to have a majority of two 
votes, a support much short of what he had received 
on the trial by ballot. But the attack, though unsuc- 
cessful in the House, was not made in vain. The 
Senate rejected the nomination, .and sent down the 
name of Bartlett, which was concurred in by the 
House. He declined the appointment, and Paine 
Wingate was afterwards chosen in his place. Pea- 
body felt mortified and provoked at the result, talked 
loudly of his violated honor, and threatened to chas- 
tise his assailant. A prompt intimation that more 
and worse would be said if he moved farther in the 
business, put an end at once to his threats, though 
not to his hostility. 

At the session in December, held at Exeter, my 
father was prevented by sickness from attending in 
the House, till the second week of the session. It 



104 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

appeared that, at the recent election, no choice of 
electors of president and vice-president had been 
made by the people. The law of the state provided 
that the Legislature should, in case there was no 
election by the people, choose the five electors 
required, out of the ten persons having the highest 
number of poj^ular votes ; but the mode of doing this 
was not prescribed. Here, then, was another ques- 
tion of procedure to be settled ; and in this, as in the 
former case, he was in favor of the separate action of 
the two branches of the Legislature. The House 
voting to meet the Senate in convention, and then 
to make the choice, the latter body non-concurred 
this vote, and a committee of conference, of which 
he was one, was appointed. They reported in favor 
of the separate action of the two Houses. This report 
was accepted by the Senate, but rejected by the 
House. The contest continued till towards midnight 
of the last day (Jan. 7, 1789,) in which electors could 
be chosen. As the Senate was at length about to yield, 
he went to their door, and, calling out Col. Tappan, 
urged them, through him, not to recede from the 
ground they had taken till he had made one effort 
more to change the vote of the House. This, after a 
stormy debate, was efiected ; though under a protest, 
on the part of the House, that their present action 
should not be used as a precedent against them on 
any future occasion. President Sullivan, who had 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 105 

violently opposed the claim of the Senate, now rose 
and said that, as the member from Epping seemed to 
know the way to the Senate-chamber, he moved that 
he be a committee to inform that honorable body that 
their perseverance, aided by their allies in the House, 
had won for them the victory. This was said in 
tones of mock solemnity, and with a very respectful 
bow to the individual thus designated. He rose at 
once, on being so selected, thanked the House for 
the honor of the appointment, and, followed by half 
the members, went with his message to the Senate. 
It was delivered and received with all due gravity ; 
and this timely pleasantry cleared the brows of many 
angry politicians, and closed, in good feeling, an 
exciting and angry controversy. 

The prominent part which the young Epping 
member took in these transactions, the most impor- 
tant of the session, gave him a standing in the House 
which he never afterwards lost. He was about the 
same time (Jan. 9, 1789,) appointed a justice of the 
peace, which was his first executive commission. He 
lived to be the oldest justice in the State. 

But j)olitics, though always interesting to him, 
were not, at this time, his chief occupation. His 
business, as a lawyer, took precedence in his mind, 
ahke of the calls of ambition, and the allurements 
of pleasure. To neither of these would he listen to 
the neglect of his professional pursuits. Omitting, 



106 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

however, for the present, any account of his labors as 
a lawyer, I propose, in the remainder of this chapter, 
to follow him in his public employments to the period 
of his election to the Senate of the United States in 
1802. In 1789, Epping sent no member to the 
Legislature; but, in March, 1790, he was unanimously 
elected to the House. He had been proposed by 
many of his friends for a seat in the Senate ; but he 
preferred the House as a better field for the exertion 
of his talents. The old clerk. Judge Calfe, being 
absent on account of sickness, he consented to serve 
as clerk till Calfe was able to take the place, and then 
resisrned in his favor. At the commencement of the 
session he objected to John S. Sherburne's taking his 
seat as a member, on the ground that he was a pen- 
sioner of the United States, and held the office of 
District Attorney under the general government. 
" Sherburne, who was," he says, " present when the 
question was discussed, shed many tears, and even 
cried aloud like a child. Unmanly as this conduct 
was, it had a powerful eifect on many members; and 
he was allowed, almost unanimously, to hold his seat. 
The part I acted on this occasion, instigated by no 
unfriendly feeling, made him, for many years after, 
my personal bitter enemy." Sherburne had been, 
like himself, first, a preacher, and then a lawyer. He 
was for a short time in the army, where he lost a limb, 
and thence derived the soiihiquet of cork-leg. He was 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 107 

a man of talents, gentlemanly in his manners, and 
insinuating in his address. He was afterwards elected 
to Congress, and held for many years the office of 
District Judge. The state , constitution, established 
three years later, settled the question thus raised, by 
excluding from both houses all 23ersons "holding any 
office under the United States." 

It was the practice at that time for members of the 
Legislature, who were lawyers, to appear as counsel, 
and argue cases before committees, and before the 
House in which, as members, they were themselves 
bound to act and decide. Besides the undue advan- 
tage which this gave their clients, the practice was 
fatal to their own impartiality of judgment and inde- 
pendence of action. My father refused to put himself 
in the position of an advocate, where he was bound 
to be a judge, and endeavored to procure the passage 
of an order prohibiting the practice. He failed, how- 
ever, in this ; but, following up the effi^rt, in the 
convention of 1791, he obtained the insertion of a 
clause in the constitution, providing that "No mem- 
ber of the general court shall take fees, be of counsel 
or act as an advocate before either branch of the 
Legislature." Both these prohibitions, inserted on 
his motion, were adopted by the people, and now 
form a part of the constitution of the state. 

The subject, which, during this and the next year, 
occupied largely the attention of the Legislature, was 



108 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the impeaclinient of Woodbury Langdon, for neglect 
of duty, as one of tlie judges of the Superior Court. 
My father was opposed to this impeachment, which 
he thought proceeded from private pique and per- 
sonal interest, rather than from a regard to the 
public good ; and he refused, on that account, to act 
as one of the managers on the part of the House. 
After much ineffectual action, and many delays, the 
impeachment was finally dropped; the judge having, 
in the mean time, accepted an office under the United 
States, and resigned his seat on the bench. The 
House passed a vote of censure on him, denying his 
right to resign while under impeachment, in which, 
however, the Senate refused to concur. 

*' During these debates," says my father, " I was assailed 
by two or three of the members, with a degree of rudeness, 
discreditable to a deliberative assembly. I replied calmly to 
their arguments, but took no notice of their abuse. It has 
ever been my object in debate not to let the angry passions 
rise, and never to make even the slightest allusion to anything 
personal in the remai'ks of others. Besides the higher advan- 
tages of such a course, I have found this, by long experience, 
the most effectual mode at once of mortifying an opponent, 
and of keeping with me the favor of the audience. If the 
attack is, in any case, well-founded, I suffer less by submitting 
in silence to the rebuke, than by showing anger, in addition 
to being in the wrong. If unjustly abused, the hearers have 
seldom failed to show by their looks and their actions that the 
assailant had hurt himself more than he had injured me." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 109 

This coolness and self-possession it was not always 
easy for him to preserve ; yet, by careful cliscij^line, 
early commenced and long continued, he had acquired 
such mastery over his passions, that he seldom suf- 
fered from their violence. When he found himself 
angry, he kept his seat and refused to speak, while the 
excitement continued. When at length he did rise, 
whatever of warmth manifested itself went into the 
argument, and not into personalities. No bitterness 
of retort showed that he felt the venom of the attack, 
or diverted him from the point at issue to any merely 
personal altercation. The arguments of an opponent 
were often assailed with unsparing severity, while 
his character and motives were treated with uniform 
respect. He thus united great plainness of speech 
with a courteous address and a rigid abstinence from 
personal invective. Though sometimes, in the heat 
of debate, assailed with rudeness, he was generally 
treated with much respect, even by those who dif- 
fered most widely from him. The motto on his signet 
ring, adopted about this time, was " Respect thyself," 
a precept, which, as he seldom failed to observe it, 
few were disposed to disregard in their intercourse 
with him. This self-respect savored nothing of vanity; 
but was rather " that pious and just honoring of our- 
selves," which Milton describes as "the radical mois- 
ture and fountain head from which every laudable 
and worthy enterprise issues forth." 



110 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

«• Ofttimes nothing profits more 
Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right, 
Well managed." 

Of other measures of the session, in which he took 
a part, I may mention here the grant of fifty pounds 
to Dr. Belknap towards the expenses of his History 
of New Hampshire. He was in favor of a larger 
sum, but thought himself happy in being able to get 
even this small appropriation through the House, 
which prided itself very little on its patronage of 
literature. He was successful in defeating, after a 
severe struggle and by a single vote, the attempt to lay 
a state tax which had been warmly recommended by 
the treasurer, but which he considered unnecessary at 
that time. It was suspected that the treasurer used 
the funds of the state for his own emolument, when 
not needed by the public. This charge seemed half 
admitted, in the ground assumed by his friends, that 
the public had no concern in the matter, except to 
see that his bondsmen were good. This business of 
the state tax was the first of several occurrences, 
which, happening from time to time, gradually alien- 
ated my father from the leading Exeter ^politicians, 
while agreeing with them in general politics, and 
made him ultimately a centre of anti-Exeter influ- 
ence. That town was in efiect, for many years, the 
political capital of the state. The three Gilmans — 
John Taylor, Nicholas, and Nathaniel — Oliver Pea- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. Ill 

body, Samuel Tenney, Benjamin Abbott, George Sul- 
livan, and, at a later period, Jeremiah Smith, — not to 
mention several less known, but able men, who lived 
there, especially Benjamin Conner, who was a great 
party manager, — possessed an aggregate of talents and 
information, and a weight of character and influence, 
which could be equalled in no other part of the state. 
My father, though on friendly terms personally with 
all these men, was not one of their political circle. 
He gave great offence to some of them at the next 
session, 1791, by a bill which he introduced to tax 
state notes, iji which they were largely interested. 
"Your influence," said one of them to him, "may 
carry the bill through an ignorant House, as you can 
carry anything else there, but it will be rejected by 
the Senate." " We shall see," was the quiet reply. 
The bill accordingly passed the House, and was sent 
to the Senate, which, a few days after, sent a mes- 
sage to the House, informing them that the bill had 
been taken from their files, and could not be found. 
The House immediately passed it a second time, and 
sent it to the Senate, by whom it was enacted and 
became a law. It is a curious illustration of the kind 
of men sometimes found in public life, that a mem- 
ber of the House (not from Exeter) afterwards 
boasted that he had pocketed the first bill, and came 
near getting the second. It will readily be believed 
that he was a holder of state notes. 



112 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

The winter session of 1791 was devoted chiefly to 
a revision of the statutes, with a view to a new edi- 
tion of the laws. Among the bills introduced was one 
for the punishment of blasphemy. The committee 
had reported, in substance, the old law, but a Mr. Wel- 
man, who had been a preacher, moved as an amend- 
ment, that any person " convicted of spealdng disre- 
spectfully of any part of the Bible should have his 
tongue bored through with a hot iron." Sherburne 
seconded this motion in a vehement speech, declaring 
that he should have been better pleased if the rever- 
end gentleman had proposed death as the penalty for 
so atrocious an offence. Sherburne labored under the 
imputation of being himself an unbeliever, and was, 
at any rate, free in his remarks on scripture, and his 
ridicule of the clergy. Whipping, brandmg, and 
other mutilations of the body were punishments then 
inflicted by the penal codes of most of the states, and 
the zeal of a Christian community saw nothing revolt- 
ing in their application to the support of religious 
truth. 

" I was aware," says my father, " of the strong prejudices 
of some of the members against me, on account of my re- 
ligious tenets ; and I doubted whether my opposition would 
not aid, rather than defeat, the proposed amendment. But 
perceiving, from the temper of the House, and the conduct of 
such men as Sherburne, that there was danger of its adoption, 
I could not remain silent. I rose, therefore, to oppose it ; 
and, though deeply affected, and, at first, agitated with the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 113 

strength of my emotions, I delivered one of the best speeches 
I ever made on any subject. I endeavored to show that this 
amendment was not only barbarous, impolitic, and unjust, but 
contrary to the spirit of Christianity. For this purpose I 
made more than twenty appropriate quotations from the 
Bible ; contrasting the severity of the Jewish law, which was 
appealed to in support of sanguinary punishments, with the 
mildness of the Christian dispensation ; and closed with a 
strong appeal to the more KberpJ and generous feelings of the 
human heart." 

The motion was rejected, though not by a large 
majority. This speech was spoken of, by those who 
heard it, as having been highly eloquent and impres- 
sive. It vindicated, on the broadest principles, the 
right and the duty of free inquiry, and denounced, 
with keen satire and indignant invective, the attempt 
to substitute authority in the place of reason, the 
branding-iron and the halter for the persuasive force 
of argument and the corrective influence of example, 
— combining, in one odious character, the hypocrite 
and the persecutor, the bigot and the unbeliever. 
Sherburne made no reply, and was not even present 
when the final vote was taken. He may have acted 
in this case, either in bad faith, with a view to popu- 
larity, or, as might be more charitably surmised, with 
the covert design to lead the House, by the very 
extravagance of his argument in support of the 
amendment, to its rejection. This latter supposition 



114 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

is consistent with his usual finesse and indiretion. 
But his own account of the matter, afterwards, was 
that his aim had been to force Plumer, whom he 
dishked, into the avowal of opinions which he knew 
would be unpopular. If this was his object, he was 
but partially successful. He brought out, indeed, 
his intended victim, but not to be sacrificed. Many, 
who voted for the amendment, were loud in their 
praises of the boldness and ability with which it was 
opposed ; especially in contrast with the zeal of one 
who, after advocating the measure, refused to vote 
for it* 

My father was, the next year (March, 1791), again 
elected to the House, and chosen Speaker of that 
body, " by a full vote." The session in June was a 
short one. That in November was held at Ports- 
mouth. Its most important business was the incor- 
poration of a bank. There was, at this time, no 
bank in New Hampshire, and but three state banks 
in the Union, — one in Philadelphia, one in New 

* It was of this same Sherburne that Judge Smith, reversing the apostolic 
injunction, said, «'I hate him with a pure heart, fervently." The letters of 
Smith aboTond in sallies of this kind, amusing, at once, and sarcastic. This 
quaint humor seldom spared even his friends, and was not likely to fall with 
less severity on those whom he regarded as his enemies. " You will make," 
he says, in one of those letters, « the necessary allowances for my painting. 
I lay no claim to impartiality. I have not learned to blame measures with- 
out censuring men." This latter expression may be taken as the apology 
for some harsh judgments and xmcharitable expressions, in which other men, 
besides Smith, occasionally indulge. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 115 

York, and one in Boston. My father's idea was that 
the Bank of the United States, then recently incor- 
porated, would establish branches wherever the busi- 
ness of the country might require them, and that no 
more state banks ought to be created. He thought 
this general bank should be owned by the govern- 
ment, and managed as a public concern, which might, 
in this way, be made useful to the business of the 
country, valuable as a fiscal agent, and a source, 
under certain circumstances, of income to the treas- 
ury. With these views he opposed the incorporation 
of the New Hampshire Bank ; which, however, passed 
both Houses by small majorities, and became a law. 

In the meantime, a convention having been called 
to revise the constitution of the state, he was elected, 
in August, a member of that body. The importance 
of the object drew together many of the ablest men 
of the state. The discussion, not of laws merely, but 
of constitutional provisions, and the fundamental 
principles of government, gave to the debates an in- 
terest not often felt in legislative proceedings. These 
debates, though long and able, were never published ; 
and the journal of the convention furnishes but an 
imperfect account of what was done, and still less by 
whom it was done. Even the yeas and nays, except 
in two or three cases, are not given. I am able, 
however, partly from the journal and other docu- 
ments connected with it, and partly from my father's 



116 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

papers, to give some account of the proceedings of 
this convention, and especially of his course in it. 
The convention met at Concord, September 7th, 
1791. The old constitution was taken up by sec- 
tions, and its provisions altered, or amended, and 
new clauses added, or old ones stricken out, at the 
will of the convention, till the whole was passed 
through in this manner. This occupied the first ten 
days of the session. Among the subjects in which 
he felt the strongest interest, and took an active part 
in debate, were the provisions on the subject of reli- 
gion, the organization of the executive department, 
the judiciary, and the basis of representation in the 
House. 

On the subject of religion, he proposed, instead of 
the former provisions, an article securing to every 
person in the state " the inestimable privilege of wor- 
shipping God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of 
his own conscience," and prohibiting the Legislature 
from compelling any person either to attend any 
place of public worship, or to pay taxes for the 
building of churches, or for the support of religious 
teachers, except in pursuance of his own free act and 
agreement. This amendment was wide enough to 
embrace the Roman Catholic on the one hand, and 
the Deist on the other. As a substitute for this arti- 
cle another was proposed, subjecting all the inhabi- 
tants of the state to a town tax for the support of the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 117 

clergyman whom the majority of the legal voters 
should, in each case, select as their pastor. The two 
opposite systems, the voluntary and the compulsory, 
were thus brought before the convention, and led to 
an animated debate on the subject. But neither 
party was strong enough to carry its proposed amend- 
ment; and the constitution of 1784 remains, in this 
particular, unaltered to the present time. The old 
system, in its rigor of universal compulsory taxa- 
tion, though it had still its advocates, had lost much 
of its hold on the public favor ; while the voluntary 
system had not yet acquired the support of any 
considerable portion of the religious community. 
The Quakers, few in numbers, were allowed to escape 
the tax for the support of religious teachers; the 
Baptists claimed the same exemption; the Metho- 
dists were, as yet, little known in the state ; — but 
there were many persons who, belonging to no 
known denomination, could, in general, plead no 
scruples of conscience on the subject, yet were 
unwilling to be driven, by compulsion of law, into 
any religious fold. They wanted the appearance of 
going freely, if they went at all. 

A motion, made by my father, to abolish the 
religious test for office-holders, who were required by 
the Constitution to be " of the Protestant religion,*' 
though at first rejected, was finally adopted by the 
Convention. It failed, however, with the people ; 



118 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

receiving a majority of the votes in its favor, but 
not the two-thirds necessary for its adoption. This 
test still forms a part of the Constitution. The 
convention of 1850 twice proj)osed, almost unan- 
imously, its repeal ; but the people refused, by very 
large majorities, to make the proposed alteration. 

The mode in which the House of Representa- 
tives should be constituted was a matter of too 
great importance not to receive the early notice of 
the convention. The amendment proposed by my 
father was that the Legislature should divide the 
state into sixty districts, making the number of rat- 
able ]3olls in each as nearly equal as they could be 
made without dividing towns ; and that each district 
should have one member. This would have been, 
substantially, a representation according to numbers. 
But the small towns were unwilling to give up their 
disproportionate representation; and many even of 
the large towns disliked the district system. The 
limited number of the districts was also an objection 
with those who preferred a numerous House as safer 
than a small one. The proposition was, therefore, 
rejected by a strong majority. The theory of repub- 
lican equality requires, no doubt, this system of 
single districts, having an equal number of voters in 
each; and any departure from this is, so far, a de- 
parture from the representative principle, on which 
the whole government rests. The practice of town 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 119 

representation is, however, coeval with the introduc- 
tion of legislative assemblies in New England ; and 
it is not strange that those little republics, the town 
municipalities, should have adhered tenaciously to 
their ancient privileges. The most, therefore, that 
could be expected, under these circumstances, was 
that the principle of equality should be as nearly 
attained as was consistent with preserving town 
representation. The attempt, in the convention of 
1850, to give the small towns an advantage even 
greater in this respect than they before possessed, by 
lessening materially the representation of the large 
towns, led, more than any other cause, to the rejection 
by the people, not only of this, but of all the amend- 
ments proposed by that convention. 

The constitution of 1776 had provided no Execu- 
tive Department, separate from the Legislative. That 
of 1784 had organized such a department, but made 
it a portion of, and dependent on, the Legislature. 
The amendments under this head, moved by my 
father, and adopted by the convention, consisted in 
separating the governor from, the Senate, and giving 
him a qualified negative on the Legislature. To 
secure a like independence in the Senate, he pro- 
posed to enlarge the number of senators to fifteen, 
one for every four representatives ; and to make a 
plurality of votes alone necessary for a choice by the 
people, so that the Senate should not, in any case, 



120 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

depend upon the House for the election of any of its 
members. The former motion failed in the conven- 
tion, and the latter with the people. 

In organizing anew the judiciary department, the 
plan supported by him had for its object, by lessen- 
ing the number of the courts, and increasing their 
power, to secure a more speedy and less expensive 
administration of justice. The chances of protracted 
litigation, as the law then stood, were very great; 
and the consequent duration of law-suits was almost 
interminable. A suit, commenced before a Justice of 
the Peace, might be carried to the General Sessions, 
thence to the Common Pleas, thence to the Superior 
Court, and thence to the Legislature ; to be by that 
body sent back to the Superior Court for final 
decision, with the further chance of a new trial on 
a writ of review. Add to this, that the verdict 
might be repeatedly set aside by the court, and that 
the disagreement of the jury often prevented any ver- 
dict being rendered ; and it will readily be believed 
that suitors seldom got what the bill of rights prom- 
ised them — "Justice freely, without being obliged to 
purchase it; completely, without denial; and promptly, 
without delay." The remedy for these evils, as finally 
proposed by the convention, was to empower the 
Legislature to abolish the Courts of Common Pleas 
and General Sessions, and to extend the jurisdiction 
of Justices of the Peace to sums not exceeding four 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 121 

pounds. It was further proposed that no person 
should have a writ of review after the case had been 
decided against him twice by a jury, but that the 
court might, in other cases, grant a new trial where, 
in their opinion, justice had not been done at the 
former trials. Provision was also made for estab- 
lishing equity jurisdiction, where an adequate remedy 
did not exist at common law. It was believed that 
this system would produce a more speedy despatch 
of business, and greatly reduce the costs of litigation. 
But its effect, in the first instance, would have been 
to throw twenty -judges out of office, and to destroy, 
in a hundred other influential men, the hope of 
obtaining judgeships, to which, under the old system, 
they might have aspired. Those lawyers too, who, 
in organizing the courts, looked chiefly to their own 
interests, were not likely to favor a plan whose pro- 
fessed object was to diminish litigation. The only 
part of the scheme which met with no opposition, was 
that which extended the jurisdiction of justices of the 
peace. That rather numerous class of men found 
both their respectability and their emoluments in- 
creased by the proposed change, and they were not 
slow to appreciate its merits. The other proposed 
amendments were all rejected by the people. My 
father had been deeply impressed with the evils of 
the system which he thus sought to reform, — the 
litigious spirit which it engendered among the 



122 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

people, its expense, its injustice, and its delays — 
"the law's delay" — which, from the time of Shak- 
speare, not to speak of the complaints of earlier 
days, had been the bane and the opprobrium of 
Enghsh jurisprudence, and which had been repeated 
here with such fatal facility of imitation. 

After having, in this way, discussed the various 
amendments proposed, the convention appointed a 
committee, of which my father was one, to reduce 
them to form; and when this was effected, another 
committee was raised of two from each county, of 
which he was also a member, to take the whole 
subject into consideration, and report at a future 
meeting the amendments proper to be submitted to 
the people. The convention then adjourned to meet 
again in February of the next year. The committee 
of ten met repeatedly, and was long in coming to 
any definite conclusions. 

"The chief labor and responsibility," says my father, "fell 
on me. Peabody, who was chairman, was disposed to perplex 
and embarrass, rather than aid the business. Atherton acted 
almost uniformly with Peabody. Freeman was opposed to all 
amendments. The infirmities of age made Payne inactive. 
Page was able and well disposed, but indolent and inattentive. 
The others gave me little trouble and no assistance. The 
task, thus thrown upon me, of controlling perverseness and 
rousing indolence into action was equally laborious and per- 
plexing. But I felt my reputation concerned in bringing the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 123 

business to a successful issue ; and, by steady perseverance, I 
finally surmounted all the obstacles thrown in my way. After 
much discussion, and many changes and delays, we agreed 
upon amendments, which I reduced to form, and transcribing 
the whole constitution, introduced them into their proper 
places. On the meeting of the convention, February 8th, 
1793, our report was assailed from various quarters ; but. 
Page and Atherton joining me in its defence, (for the latter no 
longer adhered to Peabody,) we succeeded, after long debates, 
from the 9th to the 23d, in carrying it through, though not 
without some important modifications. I was requested, by a 
vote of the convention, as all the amendments had been drawn 
by me, to arrange them in their proper places, and to assist 
the clerk in making a copy for publication." 

The convention then adjourned to meet again in 
May, to receive the answer of the people to the pro- 
posed amendments. On coming together again, my 
father was appointed chairman of the committee to 
ascertain what amendments had been adopted, and 
what rejected; and to report such farther amend- 
ments as might be necessary to bring what remained 
of the old constitution into harmony with such 
provisions of the new as had been adopted by the 
people. This being done, the subject was again 
submitted to the people; and the labors of the 
convention were closed by another short session 
in September. The constitution, thus formed, still 
remains in force without alteration, nor was there any 



124 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

attempt at change for nearly half a century. Of this 
convention of 1791, he was the sole survivor, when 
that of 1850 met, and he did not live to see its close. 
Though there were, in the convention of 1791, 
many older, and, at that time, more distinguished 
men than he, there was no one who took so active 
a part, or who had greater influence in that body. 
By his industry and joerseverance, his energy and 
decision, and, above all, by the force and accuracy of 
his discriminating mind, he acquired, before the close 
of the convention, a weight and authority in that 
body which no other man possessed. "He was," 
said Judge Livermore to me, "by all odds, the most 
influential man in the convention ; so much so, that 
those who disliked the result, called it Plumer's con- 
stitution, by way of insinuating that it was the work 
of one man, and not the collective wisdom of the 
whole assembly." From the journal of the convention, 
it appears that he was on nearly all the most import- 
ant committees, and chairman of several of them. 
Several reports made by others, were drawn up by 
him. The amendments were all submitted to him for 
revision, and such of them as he favored received 
from him their most effective support. In the man- 
uscript volume, which remains of the papers and 
documents relating to the convention, there is little, 
except the journal, which is not either in his hand- 
writing, or in that of Jeremiah Smith — about three 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 125 

times as mvich of the former as of the latter. Both 
these men were at this time comparatively young, 
ambitious of distinction, hard workers, prompt in 
action, and ready and willing alike with the tongue 
and the pen. They concurred for the most part in 
their general views of policy, though occasionally 
differing on questions of minor importance. But in 
concert or opposition, it was hard to say whether, 
aside from the strength of their arguments, the House 
most admired the broad humor, the Scotch-Irish 
drollery and shrewdness of Smith, or the keen retort, 
the ready resources, and strong practical common 
sense of Plumer. Smith, being at that time a member 
of Congress, was present only during the first session 
of ten days, and bore no part in the subsequent pro- 
ceedings. Plumer was present to the end, and busy 
from the first. They had served together in the 
Legislature, as well as in the convention, and con- 
tracted a friendship for each other, which was long a 
source of mutual satisfaction, though not destined 
to survive the vicissitudes of policy and opinion, of 
feeling and interest, which, in the progress of events, 
placed them ultimately at the head of opposite parties 
in the state. 

My father did not fail on this occasion of the usual 
accompaniment of eminence — the envy and abuse of 
rivals and opponents. The proposed amendments 
were assailed with great zeal and violence in news- 



126 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

papers and in pamphlets; in wliicb he came in for 
his full share of calumny and detraction, as their 
author and most prominent defender. To some of 
these strictures he replied in the public papers, but, 
with his usual reserve in this respect, he took no 
notice whatever of anything in them which was 
personal. 

If the object of these attacks was indifferent to 
them, he was not so to the loss of time which the 
labors of the convention occasioned him. Jle had 
this year spent nine months out of the twelve, in the 
Legislature, of which he was speaker, in the conven- 
tion, where his labors were unremitted, and in the 
courts of law, where his business was limited in 
amount only by his power of performance. This 
long absence from home was unpleasant to his feel- 
ings ; and his fatigue of body and anxiety of mind 
seriously affected his health. He was confined, after 
his return from the convention, for some time, to his 
bed, by a severe attack of illness. " Finding," he says, 
" my constitution too feeble to support such incessant 
exertion, I resolved to abandon public life, and, con- 
fining myself to my profession, to enjoy, more than 
I had of late done, the comforts of home and family, 
the society of my friends, and the solace and 
improvement of my books. There was no office that 
I desired. I commenced public life with a resolution 
that I would attach myself to no party or faction, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 127 

but perform my duty, regardless of consequences to 
myself I have thus far pursued this course; and 
I am not conscious of having done anything con- 
trary to my judgment, at the time, of what was 
right and proper." It was with these feelings and 
intentions that he declined an election to the 
House, in 1792, and devoted himself, thenceforth, 
with fresh alacrity to the law. He had, as yet, ac- 
quired but little property, and he felt that the first 
claims on him were those of his family. " I do not 
care," he said, "how hard the path is, so it leads 
finally to independence. This I can and will achieve, 
if life is spared me a few fesirs longer. Wealth I do 
not expect, nor, indeed, much desire. Competence 
is my aim ; and I labor to make my wants few, that 
I may the more easily supply them." 

But though, for the next six years, he held no 
public office, and devoted himself chiefly to his busi- 
ness as a lawyer, he lost none of his usual interest in 
the political events of the day. The hostility to 
Washington's administration, showing itself so strongly 
in opposition to the proclamation of neutrality, and 
to Jay's treaty, which, at one time, it seemed prob- 
able would be defeated, and the subsequent troubles 
under Adams, ending in the quasi war, as it was 
called, with France, warmly interested his feelings, 
and made him, in the end, more of a party politician 
than he had ever been before. He considered the 



128 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Federalists as essentially right, through the whole "of 
these transactions, and the Republicans as blinded to 
the true interests of the country by their hostility to 
England, their admiration of France, and their devo- 
tion to party leaders who looked more to their own 
advancement than to the public good. He had, him- 
self, no foreign partialities or predilections ; having, 
he said, as little confidence in the good will of Eng- 
land as in the fraternal affection of France. " On 
reviewing these subjects, after a lapse of thirty years, 
I still think," he says, " that my opinions on these 
great national questions were correct. But, on read- 
ing copies of the letters I then wrote, I find them 
too censorious of those who differed with me, and too 
eulogistic of those with whom I then thought and 
acted. I have since learned to be more charitable 
to my opponents, and to confide less blindly in polit- 
ical associates." 

Writing to his friend Smith (March 15, 1796), he 
says, " I might have been elected to the House, from 
this town, but I declined. My services would have 
borne no just proportion to the loss I should have 
sustained in my business; and the state of affairs 
here did not seem to demand the sacrifice." His 
feelings, however, became by degrees so much inter- 
ested in the political action of the two great parties 
which then divided the country, that, when his 
townsmen elected him, in his absence, once more to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 129 

the Legislature (March, 1797), he could no longer 
resist the call; though his inclination, he says, no 
less than his interests, still bound liim to his profes- 
sional pursuits. In a letter to Mr. Gordon, then in 
Congress (May 29th, 1797), he writes: 

" I am pleased with the President's speech, which mani- 
fests, in strong terms, his love of country. This is what we 
most want ; not love nor hatred towards other countries, but 
attachment to our own. I wait with anxiety for the answer 
of your House. I trust it will be in language worthy of 
freemen, firm and federal. Some think that, after the insults 
and injuries we have received from France, it would be dis- 
honorable to attempt further negotiation. I am not of that 
opinion. I would not sacrifice the peace and prosperity of 
my country to resentments, however just, on the one hand, 
nor to the etiquette of state on the other. But if a minister 
is to be sent, I presume it will not be Madison or Gallatin, — 
we have sufiered enough already, from such characters, in 
the person of Monroe. I hope you will not lay an embargo 
on our vessels, as I see is proposed by some. It would 
injure our commerce much, and our revenue more ; or rather 
totally destroy both, without afifecting materially the French. 
It is folly to talk of starving France. Let each merchant, 
judging for himself, embargo his own property, if he will, 
or hazard the danger of French piracy, if he prefers that 
course." 

On the meeting of the Legislature in June, my 
father was elected speaker. " The ballots being 

9 



130 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

counted," lie says in a letter to Smith (June 11, 
1797), " it appeared that John Goddard had three, 
Woodbury Langdon seven, Russell Freeman forty- 
one, and that I had seventy-three votes. Considering 
that Freeman was speaker last year, and had behaved 
well in the office, and that I had not been in the 
House for the last six years, and was personally 
known to but few of the members, I was, I confess, 
disappointed as well as gratified at the result. The 
governor has given us a moderate, but firm, federal 
sjDeech. We shall have an answer, the sentiments 
and composition of which will not make you blush 
for New Hampshire. The mail going from this place 
(Concord) but once a week, is a sufficient excuse for 
my not writing you sooner." Between a mail once 
a week, and ten mails a day, which is about the 
present supply of Concord, there is a difference sig- 
nificant of the times, and the progress of events.* 
Among other proofs how entirely the new speaker 
possessed the confidence of the House, it may be 
mentioned that they gave him the nomination of all 
committees, which had never, I believe, been done 
before. " The House," he says, " appointed every 
man whom I nominated ; so that, in fact, I had the 

* My father's letters were usually ten or twelve days in reaching him 
from Philadelphia. There was then no post-ofhce at Epping, and he sent 
nine miles to Exeter for his letters and papers, which, at a later period, were 
brought to him by a post-rider, once a week. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 131 

appointment of all the committees." The second 
session was held at Portsmouth, in November and 
December. Though it was a long and busy session, 
there was nothing done which need be here noticed. 
At its close, the speaker received the unanimous 
" thanks of the House, for his candid, impartial, and 
indefatigable services." Such votes are now matters 
of course ; yet some inference may, perhaps, be 
drawn from the terms used as to the kind of service 
rendered. Industry and impartiality were qualities 
in which he was not likely to be deficient. He 
found, however, the labors of the chair too much for 
his health ; and, in other respects, he did not much 
lil^e his position. Though not debarred from taking 
part occasionally in debate, he felt that a seat on the 
floor would have been more pleasant to him, and at 
times, perhaps, more useful to the public. 

He was, the next year (March, 1798,) re-elected to 
the House. His old law-instructor. Prentice, was 
chosen speaker. My father was told, by many of his 
friends, that his services on committees, and on the 
floor, would be more important than any he could 
render in the chair. This agreed so well with his 
own views and feelings on the subject, that he yielded 
readily to them, though aware that some, who used 
this civil language towards him, were not willing 
that the influence which he had acquired at the 
former session, should be increased by a second term 



132 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of service as speaker. He was chairman of the com- 
mittee on the governor's speech, and drew up the 
answer of the House. He did the same at the 
November session. In both these papers, as well 
as in the Address to the President of the United 
States, the most entire confidence was expressed in 
the wisdom and integrity of the general govern- 
ment ; and the people of the state were pledged to 
support its measures in defence of the rights and 
honor of the country, even should they terminate in 
a war with France. This was his own view of the 
case. He felt strongly, where the question was 
between his own and a foreign country; and was, 
on this occasion, equally indignant at "the insults 
and encroachments of the terrible republic," and 
angry with "those degenerate Americans, who take 
part with a foreign power against their own govern- 
ment." The Address was adopted with only four 
dissenting votes in the House, and passed the Senate 
unanimously. 

A motion to increase the governor's pay, by an 
extra allowance, gave him occasion to express his 
views on the subject of salaries generally. He was 
opposed, upon principle, to the high payment of 
public officers. " The true rule is," he said, " to hold 
out such inducements, and such only, as will obtain, 
in any given case, the services required. In employ- 
ments, such as clerkships, where there is much labor 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 133 

and little honor, money is the chief, if not the only 
inducement ; and of this, enough should be given to 
secure faithful and efficient officers. Let the labor be 
paid for, like other labor, at the market price. But 
in offices of higher character, other considerations 
come into the account. Not to speak of patriotism, 
or public spirit, there are other allowable, if not 
generous motives of action, such as ambition, the 
love of power, the thirst for distinction, and on these 
we may rely largely, to secure the services of the 
best men for offices of high honor and responsibility. 
Yet, as few are so wealthy as to be altogether above 
pecuniary considerations, there must be something in 
the way of emolument attached to offices, even of the 
highest power and distinction. But this should not 
be such as to make the pay, in any case, other than a 
secondary consideration. He is unworthy of any high 
office, who, in accepting it, thinks chiefly of the salary, 
and that salary is, for the same reason, too high, which 
hiduces men to regard office as desirable chiefly on 
account of it. Ambition brings men of noble feel- 
ings and generous natures into competition with one 
another for the public favor ; but the love of money 
is felt chiefly by men of baser natures, who resort to 
ignoble means to obtain their objects, and who, when 
in office, promote men like themselves, looking only 
to the narrow purposes of party policy, or, lower still, 
to their own sordid interests. High salaries have thus 



134 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

a tendency to bring into the lists men who are unfit 
for office, and who, but for the scent of prey, would 
leave the field to the competition of better and more 
deserving men. Pay those with money then, who 
can earn only money. But let honor, power, the 
consciousness of duty well performed, be the chief, 
as it must ever be the highest reward of meritorious 
exertions in the public service. It will be time 
enough to give more, when good men cannot be 
obtained on these terms. At present, there is no 
lack of candidates for political offices among our best 
and ablest men." On these grounds he was the advo- 
cate of low salaries for high offices. These opinions 
were not now advanced by him for any temjDorary 
purposes, but were adhered to, when he, himself, 
many years after, filled the office whose salary he 
now sought to keep within its former bounds. 

A striking instance occurred, near the close of the 
session, of his moderation and command of temper 
under very trying circumstances. In the choice of 
a Senator to Congress, the Speaker, Prentice, was a 
candidate, but did not succeed, the old Senator Liver- 
more being re-elected. Prentice imputed his failure 
to a severe attack made on him in a Concord news- 
paper. Believing this to have been written by his 
former pupil, he brought the subject before the 
House; and, after denouncing the writer as a mis- 
creant and a viper, he turned suddenly on my father, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 135 

and, foaming with rage and stamping with his foot, 
defied him, with oaths and imprecations, to deny- 
that he was the author of the infamous Hbel on his 
character. The House, astonished at this indecent 
ebulhtion, remained for some time silent, yet with 
looks of shame and rebuke, at the indignity thus 
inflicted, not less on itself than on one of its mem- 
bers, by the presiding of&cer of the assembly. All 
eyes were turned toward the object of this unpro- 
Yoked attack, who, however, sat quietly in his place, 
unmoved amidst the tumult of passion, and not even 
condescending to inform the House, as he might truly 
have done, that he did not know the author, and had 
never seen the article in question till it appeared in 
print. Having vented his passion in this manner, 
without even the poor consolation of provoking a 
reply, the speaker left the chair and withdrew from 
the House. It afterwards appeared that the offensive 
article was written by a son of the successful candi- 
date. This self-command under insult was not the 
effect of insensibility, but grew out of principle ; and 
the anger which he could not but feel, was tempered, 
in this case, by pity for his old instructor, degrading 
himself in the vain attempt to disgrace his former 
pupil. By some, it may be thought that he ought to 
have made it what is absurdly called an affair of 
honor, or, if not, that he should have shown at least 
as much passion in repelling the attack in words, as 



136 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Prentice had shown in making it. But he deliber- 
ately rejected the use of all such means. The pistol, 
the club, and the fist were, in his opinion, not only 
unworthy of him, but he did not even hold it expe- 
dient to return railing for railing in this case. " Folly," 
he said, "is best answered by silence. If we do but 
respect ourselves, we need not much fear the disre- 
spect of others." Of an ardent temperament, he made 
the government of his passions an object of unre- 
mitting care, and with such success, that he might be 
justly called a man of strong passions under strong 
control. What the House thought of "the miscre- 
ant and the viper" may be inferred from their unani- 
mously choosing him speaker ^:>ro tem. in the absence of 
Prentice; from his being selected to preside over the 
convention, when both Houses met in that form, to 
discuss the proportion of taxes ; and from his being 
put on not less than twenty-nine committees, and 
prevented from being on more by his claiming the 
benefit of the rule excusing any member from serv- 
ing on more than three committees which had not 
already reported. When he met Prentice again, 
which was not till the next year, the latter was 
particularly attentive and even obsequious to him. 
He took such changes, whether of servility or of 
abuse, more quietly than most men are disposed to 
do. " Thrice happy he who tempers so his blood." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 137 

He was not, the next year, a member of the 
House. In a letter to Mr. Gordon (February, 1799), 
he says, " My attention to busmess, to company, to 
the General Court, and to the Courts of Law, has so 
much injured my health, that I am determined, in 
future, to work less and to live easier. I shall begin 
by relinquishing politics, or, in other words, not going 
tliis year to the Legislature. My professional labors 
are as much as, with my feeble health, I can well 
endure. At my time of life, with a young family, 
and not much property, I cannot retire from busi- 
ness; though I hope to do so before many years, — 
certainly as soon as I feel myself independent." His 
interest in public affairs was, however, too strong to 
allow him long to withdraw from public life. On 
the apparent return of better health, he was, the 
next year, (March, 1800), again elected to the 
House. 

In April, he lost his mother. Her sudden and 
unexpected dissolution produced a sicknesss which 
confined him, for some days, to his bed. " She was," 
he says, " one of the best of mothers, and I loved her 
tenderly. No woman ever possessed a sweeter dis- 
position, or discharged the duties of her station with 
more prudence, or greater fidelity." 

In June, he was again so ill as to be unable to 
attend the Legislature till its second week, though 
urged to it by letters and messages from many of his 



138 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

friends. The great question of the session was on 
the memorial of certain persons, asking for the estab- 
lishment of another bank in Portsmouth. Soon after 
the establishment of the New Hampshire Bank, a 
company was formed in that town, which issued bills 
and transacted the ordinary business of a bank, 
though unincorporated. The old bank was in the 
hands of the Federalists ; the new one, established by 
Langdon, Sherburne, Goddard, and other Republicans, 
was not a mere money concern, but was intended as 
an engine of political power. They had, the year 
before, applied for an act of incorporation, which was 
denied them; and a law was passed, making all such 
unincorporated banking associations unlawful. The 
state had, also, become a stockholder in the old bank. 
The March elections had turned mainly, in many 
places, on this bank question ; and the Republicans 
had gained largely by the votes of men who regarded 
the old bank as a monopoly, the state subscription as 
a bribe, and the new bank as the only sure remedy 
for the financial evils of the times. 

The question came up in the House on a memorial 
of the new bank, praying for the repeal of the prohi- 
bition on unincorporated banking associations, the 
law not having yet gone into operation. The Feder- 
alists were opposed to the request, chiefly on party 
grounds. My father had opposed the old bank on 
considerations of general i3olicy, and was equally 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 139 

opposed, on the same grounds, to the new. The 
committee had reported agamst the prayer of the 
memorialists ; and, the question coming up for dis- 
cussion immediately on his taking his seat, he moved 
its postj^onement till the afternoon, having left some 
notes, which he had made on the subject, at his 
lodgings. This motion, however, did not prevail ; 
and Goddard, who was one of the petitioners, and 
the ablest debater on the Republican side, strenu- 
ously opposed the acceptance of the report. " After 
he sat down," says my father, " I addressed the 
House, vindicating the report of the committee, and 
assigning reasons why it should be accepted. Though 
weak from ill health, I occupied the floor more than 
an hour, and suffered no inconvenience for the want 
of my notes. I had the satisfaction of being listened 
to by the House, and the crowded galleries, with an 
attention which would have done honor to Dexter or 
Ames. The report was accepted." The session closed 
on Monday, June 16th. So much of the old strict- 
ness of opinion prevailed with the governor, that he 
refused to adjourn the Houses on Saturday, lest some 
of the members might travel towards their homes on 
the Sabbath. 

In the selection of Representatives to Congf ess, he 
was urged by his friends to become a candidate, but 
refused on the ground of ill health. He was also 
proposed as a candidate for the Senate, but declined 



/ 



140 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in favor of his friend Sheafe, who was elected, though 
not by a large majority. The Federalists were evi- 
dently losing ground, and the new bank was gaining 
friends in every part of the state. This was sensibly 
felt, among other places, in Epping, where many of 
my father's old federal friends insisted on a pledge 
from him not to oppose the incorporation of the 
Union Bank. This he refused to give them, though 
they told him that without it he could not, and, some 
said, he should not, be re-elected. He told them at 
once that, if civilly asked to decline, he should have 
willingly done so; but that, since they had threat- 
ened him, he should put himself before the people 
for their verdict. He accordingly argued the ques- 
tion of the bank in the town meeting, and was 
re-elected (March, 1801), on the third trial, by a 
majority of three votes, against two popular candi- 
dates, a Federalist and a Republican, both friends of 
the Bank. When the House met at Hopkinton, in 
June, 1801, though the Federalists had a decided 
majority, John Langdon, the Republicans' bank can- 
didate, wanted but two votes of being elected 
speaker. Prentice owed his majority of one to my 
father's reluctant vote. He used afterwards to say 
that this vote was the strongest proof he ever gave 
of the influence of party over his conduct; since 
Prentice had not only never made an apology for 
the gross insult he had, on a former occasion, offered 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 141 

him, but was really much inferior as a presiding 
officer to Langdon. If, in this case, party spirit 
proved paramount to all other considerations, it came 
in the disguise of duty, and with a feeling of magna- 
nimity, to which he was ever ready to yield. " A 
sense of personal injury never," he says, at another 
time, "influenced my public conduct; and I trust 
my life will not be protracted to receive so foul a 
stain." " In taking revenge," says Bacon, " a man is 
but equal to his enemy ; in passing it over, he is 
superior." He now had cause to feel this. Prentice 
was grateful for the favor so unexpectedly received, 
and acknowledged his fault. 

The proprietors of the Union Bank renewed, at 
this session, their application for an act of incorpora- 
tion. The Federalists being divided in opinion as 
to the policy of granting this request, the bill passed 
the House, but was rejected by the Senate. My 
father opposed this application to the end, both on 
the ground originally taken by him against all state 
banks, and, more strongly, on the peculiar circum- 
stances of the present case. At the next session, 
when he was not a member, they succeeded in 
obtaining a charter. The Republican party had, in 
the mean time, by the election of Mr. Jefferson to the 
Presidency, gained the ascendency in the General 
Government ; but the party in New Hampshire was 
still in the minority, and the accessions which it 



142 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

received were owing more to this local question of 
the Union Bank than to any considerations of national 
policy. The system of paper money, except in the 
old form of state notes, which had everywhere proved 
disastrous to the public credit, was at that time a 
novelty in this state ; and my father had early made 
up his mind against its introduction, and was still 
opposed to its extension. Yet there is little doubt 
that it has proved, on the whole, beneficial to the 
public interests ; and, one bank being established, it 
was obvious that a second could not long be refused. 
For years the Union Bank confined its loans to its 
political friends, or to those whom it hoped to make 
such. The old bank was, probably, not more liberal 
in its policy. In the mean time, the system of state 
banks has spread in all directions, and has ultimately 
superseded the original design of a Bank of the 
United States, which, after agitating for years the 
public mind, and influencing deeply more than one 
presidential election, has become at length, in the 
words of a late distinguished New Hampshire states- 
man, " an obsolete idea." 

The day after the adjournment, my father thus 
took leave of public life, in a letter (June 18, 1803,) 
to one of his friends. "As a legislator, I now 
bid you adieu. I have served eight years in the 
General Court, and one in the convention. I have 
spent no inconsiderable portion of the best years of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 143 

my life in the public service ; and may now, I trust, 
fairly claim my discharge, for the present, at least, if 
not forever." To another, he soon after wrote : "My 
attention to business for the last fifteen years has 
much impaired my health, and injured my consti- 
tution, which, at the best, was never strong. I am 
now, for a great portion of my time, a feeble invalid. 
This has induced me of late to think seriously of relin- 
quishing, not only my public life, but my profession ; 
and of devoting myself in future, wholly to my 
family, my friends, and my books. These have 
always been the great sources of my purest enjoy- 
ments, and I feel the need of no other." 

In the preceding account, I have not attempted a 
full history of his services in the legislature ; but have 
confined myself to such parts only as were impor- 
tant in themselves, or calculated to throw light on 
his character and opinions; without descending to 
the petty detail of personal jealousies and political 
intrigues, by which, in the warfare of party, most 
public men are so often assailed and annoyed, if not 
degraded and disgraced. One thing is particularly 
observable in this review, — the fearless independence 
of his conduct, from his first protest, "single and 
alone," against the justice trial bill, to his persevering 
opposition to the Union Bank, when many of the 
party leaders thought it prudent to desist. In several 



144 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

cases, not here recorded, he came into bold, and some- 
times sharp collision with some of the most influential 
Federalists of the state, on points where he thought 
them wrong. His support of party was the action of 
an indej)endent mind, governed by its own sense of 
right; not the blind submission of a slave to the com- 
mands of a master. A letter written about this time, 
(June, 1801,) to his old acquaintance, Henry Dear- 
born, then Secretiiry of War, shows the feelings with 
which he regarded the new administration, — doubtful 
of its policy, but disposed to judge it fairly by its 
acts. "My political opinions do not accord with 
those of the President; but I am of no faction. I 
am neither attached to the English, nor prejudiced 
against the French. My sentiments are American ; 
and my disposition is to support the administration of 
my country, so far as it appears to me not positively 
injurious to her best interests. I have seen things 
in Mr. Adams's administration, which I could not 
approve ; and I doubt not that I shall see measures 
adopted by Mr. Jefferson, that w^ill meet with my 
cordial support." 

In September, while attending the Superior Court, 
at Dover, he was seized with so severe an attack 
of colic, that it was with difficulty he reached his 
home. Much as he had often before suffered, he was 
till then, he writes, "ignorant of extreme pain." "My 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER> 145 

suffering," he continues, "was so intense that I wished 
relief, though at the expense of life. My physician 
pronounced my case desperate, and said he could 
afford no relief At this moment, I felt a strong incli- 
nation to drink cold water. The physician thought 
this hazardous ; but, convinced that I could not long 
live in that condition, and absolving him from all 
blame in the case, I drank more than a pint of cold 
water at once. The severity of my pain immediately 
abated. I fell into a calm sleep for half an hour; and 
awoke with the feeling that the crisis of the disease 
was 23ast. I was confined fourteen days to my 
chamber, and most of the time to my bed." 

The determination, produced by the state of his 
health, to withdraw from public life, was, the next 
year, put to a test which he had not foreseen. After 
serving one session in the Senate of the United States, 
Mr. Sheafe resigned his seat in that body, and my 
father was chosen (June 17, 1802,) to fill the vacancy 
thus created. So little had this event been antici- 
pated, that he says, in a letter to Smith, (June 23, 
1802,) "I had not even a hint that Mr. Sheafe 
intended to resign, till I was informed of my own 
election. My friends studiously concealed it from 
me ; no member of the Legislature had any reason to 
believe that I should accept ; and it is certain, had I 
been consulted, I should have decUned being a candi- 

10 



146 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

date." A seat in Congress, and especially in the 
Senate, is, on many accounts, so desirable, that, 
taking a lively interest in public affairs as he did, 
and not unambitious of distinction, it is not to be 
supposed that he felt averse to its honors, or indif- 
ferent to its attractions. He had, however, long 
regarded the practice of the law as his true voca- 
tion ; and he looked with jealousy upon whatever 
interfered with his profession. He had, indeed, 
served eight years in the Legislature; but even this 
service he declined, when, from the state of his 
health, he found himself unequal to the claims upon 
him, at once, of the lawyer and the politician. He had 
more than once declined being a candidate for a seat 
in Congress, either in the House or Senate. Both 
these places were desirable ; but it was, in his view, 
more desirable by the steady pursuit of his profes- 
sion, now more than ever lucrative, to secure such an 
amount of property as should place him above want, 
and at ease with respect to his family, before the 
state of his health, already impaired, shoidd render 
labor, once a pleasure, thenceforth a burden, or worse, 
an impossibility. Believing that public office would 
be always within his reach, or, if not, that there was 
little to regret in its absence, he felt no imjDatience 
to grasp at the first chances of success. " The state 
of my health," he wrote, "is bad; my wife is an 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 147 

invalid ; my children are yonng, and their education 
demands my attention. My pecuniary affairs are 
unsettled, and require much of my time to put them 
in order. The office of senator is, indeed, as high and 
honorable as my ambition ever prompted me to wish, 
and. before I Avas elected to it, its honors and advan- 
tages seemed inviting ; but, now that it has come, the 
privations to which it will subject me, diminish its 
value in my estimation, and, instead of flattering my 
pride, it excites in me fears that I shall not suitably 
perform its duties, and sustain the rank my country 
has assigned to me. On the whole, I have accepted 
the appointment with j)leasure on some accounts, but, 
at the same time, with apprehension and regret." 
Mr. Webster, about three months before his death, 
informed me that he was at Concord at the time of 
this election, and well remembered the opinions 
expressed by the leading men there; that the new 
senator was by all odds the ablest man in the Fed- 
eral party; that it was thought a great object to 
have secured his election, though it was doubted 
whether he would accept ; that his superiority was 
acknowledged even by those who disliked him on 
account of some favorite measure of theirs which he 
had defeated; that the opposition nominated Nicholas 
Oilman, who, though not an avowed Republican, was 
less Federal than his brother, the Oovernor ; but that 



148 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Mr. Plumer was elected on the first trial by a strong 
vote in both Houses. 

Before proceeding to the scene of his service in 
the Senate, some account should be given of his 
professional life, during the fifteen years which had 
elapsed since his admission to the bar. This will 
form the subject of the next chapter. 



I 



CHAPTER V. 



THE LAWYER. 



Mb. Plumer was admitted to the bar in 1787. The 
state of the law was, at that time, very different from 
what it afterwards became. Under the colonial gov- 
ernment, causes of importance were carried up, for 
decision in the last resort, to the governor and 
council, with the right, in certain cases — a right sel- 
dom claimed — of appeal to the king in council. As 
the executive functionaries were not generally law- 
yers, and the titular judges were often from other 
professions than the legal, they were not much influ- 
enced in their decisions by any known principles of 
established law. So much, indeed, was the result 
supposed to depend upon the favor or aversion of 
the court, that presents from suitors to the judges 
were not uncommon, nor, perhaps, unexpected. On 
one occasion, the chief justice, who was also a mem- 
ber of the council, is said to have inquired, rather 
impatiently, of his servant, what cattle those were 
that had waked him so unseasonably in the morning 
by their lowing under his window ; and to have been 
somewhat mollified by the answer that they were a 



150 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

yoke of six-feet cattle, wliich Col. had sent as a 

present to His Honor. "Has lie?" said the judge ; 
"I must look into his case, — it has been in court 
long enough." Under date of June 24, 1771, John 
Adams setys, " Mr. Lowell, who practised much in 
N-ew Hampshire, gave me an account of many strange 
judgments of the Superior Court at Portsmouth." 
He, however, here refers to erroneous, not to dis- 
honest, opinions of the court, — erroneous, if judged 
by the principles of the English common law ; but, 
forming, probably, a part of that system of local law 
to which the circumstances of the country and the 
genius of the people had given birth, and which had 
become binding by the gradual process of judicial 
decision, in the absence of statutory provisions. 

The revolution brought with it new men, but no 
increase, in the first instance, of judicial science. 
From 1776 to 1782, Meshech Ware, who had studied 
theology, but did not preach, was chief justice of the 
state. His associates were Matthew Thornton, a phy- 
sician, and John Wentworth, of Somersworth, who, 
though a lawyer, was not distinguished in the profes- 
sion. Nathaniel Peabody and Jonathan Blanchard 
discharged, each during a part of the same period, 
the duties of attorney general, " in a manner satis- 
factory," we are told, "to the government, and advan- 
tageous to the people," though they were neither of 
them lawyers. From 1782 to 1790, Samuel Liver- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 151 

more was chief justice ; but, though bred to the law, 
he was not inchned to attach much importance to 
precedents, or to any merely systematic or technical 
rules of procedure. In a manuscript report, which I 
have, of one of his charges, I find him cautioning the 
jury against "paying too much attention to the 
niceties of the law, to the prejudice of justice," — a 
caution of which juries do not ordinarily stand much 
in need. He was himself governed little by prece- 
dents. When once reminded of his own jjrevious 
decision, in a similar case, he made no attempt to 
reconcile it with his present ruling; but dismissed at 
once the objection, with the familiar proverb, "Every 
tub must stand on its own bottom." If he paid little 
attention to the decisions of his own court, he was 
not likely to defer much to those of other tribunals. 
The question was once argued before him as to 
the authority Of the English law reports; and he then 
decided that those of a date prior to the Declaration 
of Independence might be cited here, not as author- 
ities, but as enlightening by their reasonings the 
judgment of the court; but that with those of a later 
date we had absolutely nothing to do. The salary of 
the chief justice at this time was six hundred dollars. 
Livermore was succeeded as chief justice by Josiah 
Bartlett, a physician. Of him we are told, that "when 
the law was with the plaintiff, and equity seemed to 
him to be on the other side, he was sure to pronounce 



152 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in favor of the latter." The object of the law being 
'in all cases to do justice, as between the parties, that 
must, he said, be law which, in any given case, con- 
duced to this end. It was, at any rate, better to be 
governed by a right principle, than by a wrong 
decision. The next chief justice, from 1790 to 1795, 
was John Pickering, who was a well-read lawyer. His 
successors have all been of the same profession; 
though one of them, Simeon Olcutt, who held the 
office from 1795 to 1801, was more distinguished for 
the uprightness of his intentions than for his knowl- 
edge of law. "In his office of judge," says his 
biographer, "he manifested less regard for the letter 
of the law than for the spirit of equity." This is a 
mild way of saying what was often true, that he made 
the law to suit the case. 

While such were the chief justices, it may well be 
imagined that the side judges were not lawyers. 
John Dudley, of Raymond, a trader and farmer, 
was judge from 1785 to 1797, Woodbury Langdon, 
a merchant of Portsmouth, at different periods, from 
1782 to 1791, and Timothy Farrar, of New Ipswich, 
originally designed for the pulpit, from 1791 to 1803. 
Farrar had been appointed to the Common Pleas 
during the revolution, on which he procured a copy 
of Blackstone's commentaries, which he read, he said, 
"with more avidity than any girl ever read a novel." 
These judges were men of strong powers of mind, of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 153 

large acquaintance "with business, and superior in 
talents and information generally to the second-rate 
lawyers, who, with the salaries then given to the 
judges, could alone have been induced to take seats 
on the bench. " There are now," said Judge Smith, 
writing under date of April, 1796, "two lawyers on 
the bench ; but I think they are by no means the 
two best of the four. Farrar and Dudley, in my i 
judgment, greatly overmatch them." 

The half-learning of an ill-read lawyer of ordinary 
capacity was indeed no match for the keen sagacity, 
long experience, and strong common sense of such a 
judge as Dudley. This extraordinary man, who was 
for twelve years judge of the Superior Court, had not 
only no legal education, but little learning of any 
kind. But he had a discriminating mind, a retentive 
memory, a patience which no labor could tire, an 
integrity proof alike against threats and flattery, and 
a free elocution, rude indeed, and often uncouth, but 
bold, clear and expressive, with a warmth of honest 
feeling which it was not easy to resist. His ideas of 
law may be inferred from the conclusion of one of his 
charges to the jury, which I once heard my father 
repeat. It was somewhat in this style: "You have 
heard, gentlemen of the jury, what has been said in 
this case by the lawyers, the rascals! but no, I will 
not abuse them. It is their business to made a good 
case for their clients ; they are paid for it ; and they 



154 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

have done in this case well enough. But you and I, 
gentlemen, have something else to consider. They 
talk of law. Why, gentlemen, it is not law that we 
want, but justice. They would govern us by the 
common law of England. Trust me, gentlemen, com- 
mon sense is a much safer guide for us, — the common 
sense of Raymond, Epping, Exeter and the other 
towns which have sent us here to try this case 
between two of our neighbors. A clear head and 
an honest heart are worth more than all the law of 
all the lawyers. There was one good thing said at 
the bar. It was from one Shakspeare, an English 
player, I believe. No matter. It is good enough 
almost to be in the Bible. It is this: 'Be just and 
fear not.' That, gentlemen, is the law in this case, 
and law enough in any case. 'Be just and fear not.' 
It is our business to do justice between the parties, 
not by any quirks of the law out of Coke or Black- 
stone, books that I never read, and never will, but by 
common sense and common honesty as between man 
and man. That is our business; and the curse of 
God is upon us, if we neglect, or evade, or turn aside 
from it. And now, Mr. Sheriff, take out the jury; 
and you, Mr. Foreman, do not keep us waiting with 
idle talk, of which there has been too much already, 
about matters which have nothing to do with the 
merits of the case. Give us an honest verdict, of 
which, as plain, common sense men, you need not 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 155 

be ashamed." I have made the judge speak good 
English, which he did not often do. "This 'ere plain- 
tiff," and "that 'are defendant," "them lawyers," and 
"these 'ere witnesses," were expressions that fell 
often from his lips ; yet, it was observed that, when 
warmed by his subject, his language, always forcible, 
became suddenly accurate and even elegant, so 
naturally is correctness, as well as eloquence, the 
result of clear thought and earnest feeling. It will 
not excite surprise that such a judge carried the jury 
with him. Indeed, when fairly under way, there was 
no stopping him. He trampled down and ran over 
everything that stood before him, and came out 
always first at the goal. He had been, from 1776 to 
1784, during the whole period of the revolution, one 
of the committee of safety, the most efficient member 
of that most efficient of governments. Quick to feel 
and prompt to act, he was a resolute, strong-minded 
man, intent on doing substantial justice in every case, 
though often indifferent to the forms and require- 
ments of law. "You may laugh," said Theophilus 
Parsons, who practised for may years in our courts, 
"at his law, and ridicule his language ; but Dudley is, 
after all, the best judge I ever knew in New Hamp- 
shire." To have received this praise from Judge 
Parsons, Dudley must have been, on the whole, not 
ignorant of law, nor inattentive to its substantial 
requirements. " Justice," said Arthur Livermore, 



156 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

speaking to me of Dudley, before whom he had him- 
self practised, "was never better administered in 
New Hampshire, than when the judges knew very 
little of what we lawyers call law." 

The scene of Dudley's charge, above quoted, was 
in Rockingham County, An incident which occurred 
in Cheshire County, will give some idea of the prac- 
tice in that part of the State. At a court, held at 
Charlestown, soon after Jeremiah Mason was admit- 
ted to the bar, he put in a plea of demurrer, in a 
case in which Benjamin West was employed for the 
plaintiff. West, who was the oracle of the law in 
that region, told the court that he did not know much 
about demurrers. He rather doubted whether they 
formed any part of the New Hampshire law; at any 
rate, it was of evil example, — this attempt of his 
brother Mason, to introduce so unusual a mode of 
procedure here. The Chief Justice said, "Demur- 
rers were, no doubt, an invention of the bar to pre- 
vent justice, — a part of the common law procedure, 
but he had always thought them a cursed cheat. 
They had not been mueh used in our courts." Farrar 
said "that the effect of a demurrer, if he understood 
it, was to take the case from the jury, to be decided 
on some question of law by the court." "If that is 
so," said Judge Dudley, "I am clean against it as 
being fatal to the rights of the jury." "But, your 
honor," said Mr. Mason, "there are, in this case, no 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 157 

facts for the jury to find." "So much the better,'* 
said Dudley, "they will all the sooner bring in their 
verdict, if the facts are undisputed. Let me advise 
you, young man," he added, " not to come here with 
your new-fangled law; and above all, not to suppose 
that you know how to conduct a suit better than Mr. 
West. You must try your cases as others do, by the 
court and jury." The question had, by this time, 
become so intricate that the court continued it for 
advisement. How it was settled at the next term is 
not quite certain. Daniel Webster told me that, as 
he heard the story, the question on the demurrer, 
instead of being decided by the court, was put to the 
jury for trial. Another account is that West, now 
satisfied that his declaration was bad, moved for 
leave to amend, which the court granted, not without 
wonder that a man of such established reputation 
should be found at fault by this young man from 
over the river. In telling the story afterwards. Mason 
used to add, that, though he suffered at the time from 
the censure of the court for his presumption in intro- 
ducing new practices, and pretending to know more 
than his seniors, his success in this case gave him 
confidence in himself; and that, if he had since 
acquired reputation as a lawyer, it was not a little 
owing to this trifling incident in his early practice. 
If the non-professional reader should, like Judge 
Dudley, inquire the meaning of a demurrer, he may, 



158 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

perhaps, be satisfied by the definition given of it by 
Judge Harrington, of Vermont, another common- 
sense, but most unlearned, judge. "A demurrer," 
said Harrington, "why, a demurrer, if I understand 
it, is where, one party having told his story, the other 
party says, ivJiat ihen?" 

The custom at this time was for all the judges 
present to charge the jury, at least in all important 
cases ; and there was often as much difference in the 
law, as expounded from the bench, as there had been 
contradiction in the testimony on the stand, or in the 
inferences drawn from it by counsel at the bar. The 
result was that the verdict was an expression of the 
passions or the prejudices of the jury, and their good 
or ill will towards the parties litigant, quite as often 
as the application of any known rules of law to the 
case in hand. It was, perhaps, still oftener secured 
by the superior skill, talent or adroitness of the 
attorney employed by the winning party. Yet such 
justice was not unacceptable to the people, who re- 
garded good sense and upright intentions as of more 
importance than mere book-learning, which might 
be possessed by men ignorant of human nature and 
unacquainted with the business of life. As, however, 
the science of jurisprudence came to be more 
regarded, and precedent and authority took the 
place of vague notions of right and equity, these 
.unprofessional judges were found unequal to their 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 159 

places. Richard Evans, appointed in 1809, and 
removed in 1813, was the last judge, not a lawyer, 
who sat on the bench of the Superior Court. This 
practice of making judges of men who were not law- 
yers was general in New England. It has been stated, 
I know not upon what authority, that Paul Dudley 
was the first person, regularly bred to the law, who 
ever sat on the bench in Massachusetts. He was 
appointed in 1718, eighty-eight years after the first 
settlement of Boston. 

When my father came to the bar, though the law- 
yers of the whole State did not exceed thirty in 
number, (I find in the Register of 1788 the names of 
twenty-nine lawyers,) many of them were able and 
distinguished men. The most prominent in Rocking- 
ham and Strafford Counties, where he chiefly prac- 
tised, were John Pickering, afterwards Chief Justice 
and Judge of the District Court; John Sullivan, 
Major-General in the army of the revolution, Attor- 
ney-General, President of the State and District 
Judge; John Prentice, Speaker of the House and 
Attorney-General; John S. Sherburne, member of 
Congress and District Judge ; William K. Atkinson, 
Attorney-General and Judge of Probate; Jonathan 
M. Sewall, the poet; William Parker, Register, and, I 
think, Judge of Probate ; Oliver Peabody, Treasurer, 
Sheriff", Judge of Probate and Judge of the Common 
Pleas; and Daniel Humphries, preacher, poet, gram- 



160 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

marian and District-Attorney. Edward St. Loe 
Livermore and Arthur Livermore, both of them 
afterwards Judges of the Superior Court, became 
somewhat later members of the Rockingham bar, the 
one established at Portsmouth, the other at Chester. 
Joshua Atherton, who was Attorney-General from 
1793 to 1801, also practised in our courts. Besides 
these, there were some distinguished lawyers, residents 
in other States, who practised occasionally here, such 
as Bradbury of Portland, Dexter of Boston, and 
Parsons of Newburyport. It was in this school of 
jurists and politicians that the character of the young 
lawyer was first formed, and his powers developed 
and put to proof, in alternate co-operation and contest 
with these leaders and sages of the law. Not to fall 
behind, in the struggle with them, was no mean dis- 
tinction; to surpass the ablest of them was what he 
did not presume to hope. 

The division of professional labor, which prevails in 
older and richer States, was then little known in New 
Hampshire. The lawyer was supposed to be familiar 
with every branch of his profession, as attorney, 
counsellor, conveyancer, advocate, and to be equally 
expert in the drafting of instruments, in instituting 
suits, in special pleading, and in advocating cases 
before the court and jury. Agents out of court, 
of whom there are now so many, whose business it is 
to procure testimony, and bring the witnesses on to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 161 

the stand, were then httle known. The lawyer in 
immediate contact with his client, who was often 
ignorant of what he Avanted, had to do everything of 
this sort himself; to prepare the testimony out of 
court, to examine the witnesses in court, and to argue 
both the law and the facts to the judges and to the 
jury. All this was to be done by one person, who 
had, at the same time, a multitude of other cases on 
hand ; for it was not the practice to employ more 
than one lawyer on a side, except occasionally in 
important cases. The promptness, energy and decis- 
ion, the learning, the labor, and the versatility of 
talent, which such a course of practice required, 
tasked, to the utmost, the powers both of body 
and mind of the much-employed and over-worked 
lawyer. For such labor my fiither was prepared by 
his general habits of order, industry and persever- 
ance in whatever he undertook. Benjamin Thomp- 
son, for many years Clerk of the Common Pleas in 
Strafford County, speaking of these traits of his char- 
acter, said that he was the most industrious man he 
had ever known ; that, after laboring all day in court, 
and, at night, with his clients, in his chamber, till 
every body else had retired to rest, he would turn 
with fresh alacrity to the reading of any new book 
which chanced to fall in his way, and continue at his 
study, unconscious of the lapse of time, tiU the burn- 
ing out of his candle reminded him of his need of 
11 



162 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

repose ; that he would be up again early in the morn- 
ing, bright and cheerful, busy with his clients, prompt 
at court, attentive to whatever was said or done there, 
and ready whenever his cases were called for trial. 
Business, thus assiduously followed, left him little 
time that he could call his own. Besides the regular 
terms of the court, (six in each county, for the Com- 
mon Pleas sat four times a year,) there were Probate 
Courts, references and arbitrations, hearings before 
commissioners, the taking of depositions, and justice 
trials, which carried him almost daily from home. It 
is not, therefore, strange that with his fondness for 
books, he came to read on horseback, in taverns, 
and, when from home, in bed. 

To meet his various engagements, often required 
the exertion of uncommon activity of body as well as 
of mind. No external circumstance of labor or incon- 
venience deterred him. Neither wind nor rain, heatj 
nor cold, prevented his presence at the appointee 
time and place, or, if absent, it was through no faultj 
or neglect of his. Many instances of his accustomec 
punctuality, and of the celerity of his movements 
might be mentioned. One, which my mother used] 
to relate, may suffice. While attending court ai 
Exeter, he had engaged to meet a client at his house, 
at seven o'clock, one warm summer evening. The] 
man was on the spot at the time, and, as the clock! 
struck seven, he rallied my mother on her husband's 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 163 

want of punctuality. She paused a moment, and 
then exclaimed, "Hark, I hear him coming now." 
They hastened to the door, and heard the clattering 
hoofs of his powerful black horse as he swept over the 
bridge on the Exeter road, a mile from where they 
stood. The sounds waxed louder as they listened ; 
and in a moment, he dismounted at their side ; apolo- 
gizing for being late, by stating that the inn-keeper 
had neglected to bring his horse to the court-house 
door at the time appointed. He had ridden nearly 
nine miles in thirty-six minutes ; and was ready to 
enter, without delay, on the business which his client 
had well-nigh forgotten in surprise at his sudden 
appearance. 

An instance of equal activity, in the depth of 
winter, he used himself to relate. It was a Monday 
forenoon, in the winter term of the Superior Court 
at Dover. There had been a heavy snow storm, and 
the weather was cold and boisterous. On the opening 
of the court, Mr. Atkinson moved a postponement of 
one of his causes, on the ground that his client could 
not attend in this inclement weather. Judge Olcott, 
who listened to him with some impatience, at length 
exclaimed, " Stop, Mr. Atkinson, here is our brother 
Plumer coming into court, after having travelled 
eighteen or twenty miles this morning in the storm ; 
and your client, who lives within two miles of the 
court-house, cannot venture out. Crier, call the 



164 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

plaintiff." As my father entered the bar, flushed 
"with the cold, and shaking the snow from his locks, 
Atkinson resumed his seat, and his client was 
defanlted. My father good-naturedly moved the 
court to take off the default ; saying, that though he 
had come from Epping that morning, as indeed he 
was bound to do, the weather was really very rough, 
and hardly fit to be out in. "Well, well," said the 
Judge, "we know that you are no rule, Mr. Plumer, 
for others in such cases ; so brother Atkinson may 
have till to-morrow to bring in his witnesses. The 
clerk will take off the default." 

Punctuality was with him not only a habit, but 
a duty ; and while making large allowance for the 
want of it in others, he never subjected those with 
whom he had business to the evils or the vexa- 
tions of unnecessary delay. Hailroads were then 
unknown, stages not in use Avhere he had to travel, 
and the common roads were often well-nigh impass- 
able. Many were the journeys which he performed, 
through forests, by short cuts and bridle paths, which 
led through quagmires and over log-bridges, where 
mere skill seemed inadequate, without that good luck 
which the skilful seldom want, to escape from foun- 
derins: in the mud or fallins; into the stream. On 
one such occasion, in returning from the court at 
Rochester, through an extensive oak forest in Bar- 
rington, he fell from his horse in a fit of vertigo, to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 165 

which he was occasionally liable, and on coming to 
himself, he found his horse standing by him, with a 
huge black snake at his side ; the horse watching the 
motions of the reptile, which had probably been 
attracted by the sight of a man lying apparently dead 
on the ground. He mounted his horse with some diffi- 
culty, and soon reached the hospitable mansion of his 
friend, Judge Hale, where he passed the night. Such 
adventures are not unusual in new countries ; but, 
with our present modes of travelling, they are not 
likely often to occur to New Hampshire lawyers. 

With these preliminary statements and remarks, 
w^e may now introduce some extracts from his letters 
and journals — arranged in the order of their dates — 
which throw light on this portion of his history. 
Under date of 1785 he says: "Inclination, not less 
than the state of my finances, has made me adopt a 
system of strict economy, both of time and money. 
I studiously avoid all expensive and unnecessary 
company. The one I cannot afford; the other 
encroaches upon time which I can better employ." 
This extract well describes what was, at this period, 
his usual course of life. Economical in his mode of 
living, and studious in his habits, he sought health in 
change of occupation, rather than in relaxation and 
amusement; and he preferred, in the intervals of 
necessary labor, the society of his books to any 
living companions with wl\om he could then asso- 



166 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

ciate. These unsocial habits wore off, as business 
brought him into connection with men, often his 
equals, sometimes his superiors, with whom he felt 
that conversation was not that loss of time or 
dissipation of thought, which he had often found 
it. It was probably this excessive devotion to study, 
with little exercise and no amusement, which pro- 
duced the frequent illnesses, of which he complains 
in his letters of this period. In July, 1786, he had 
a severe attack of the bilious colic, which threat- 
ened, for a time, his life. "I bore," he says, "the 
extreme pain with fortitude, and the apparent 
approach of death did not alarm me. I felt troubled 
indeed and as it were disappointed; for I seemed 
to myself not to have done what I was sent into the 
world to do, and thence there arose, even at the 
worst, a feeling that I should recover, and go about 
my work again." 

In a letter to his former fellow-student, William 
Coleman, under date of May 31st, 1786, he says, 
" The aspect of public affairs in this state is gloomy. 
Money is scarce ; business dull, and our feeble gov- 
ernment is unhinged. Yet, even in these degenerate 
days, our courts of law are firm, and dare to be honest. 
If our elective government is to be long supported, it 
will owe its existence merely to the wisdom and the 
independence of the judiciary." The high value 
thus attached to an independent judiciary marks 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 167 

the conservative character of his mind at this time. 
The weakness of the state authorities, and the dis- 
contents of the people, ending soon after in open 
insurrection, made him anxious for a strong general 
government, and gave him what were afterwards 
called high Federal notions on this subject. " The 
people," he said, " mean well, and will do right if 
they are not misled; but I doubt their ability to 
resist the arts of demagogues, and I fear that wis- 
dom will too often come to us in the unwelcome 
form of bitter experience; in other words, in the 
shape of evils felt and not avoided." 

He entered upon his profession with a high sense 
of its importance, and a fixed determination to dis- 
charge faithfully all its duties. Writing to a friend 
soon after his admission to the bar, he says : — 

*' The lawyer's oath contains nothing which I do not intend 
religiously to observe. It is in substance, that I will do no 
injustice, nor consent to any ; will not institute or aid any 
false or unlawful suit ; nor delay any man for lucre or malice ; 
but will conduct in all respects according to my best knowl- 
edge, with all fidelity to the court and to my client. This is 
promising much, but not more than I intend to do. It shows 
that its authors placed high the standard of professional duty. 
How different from the base idea, common among us, that it 
is the lawyer's business to circumvent and overreach, to flatter 
and deceive both court and jury for the benefit of his client ; 
and above all to stir up suits, and promote litigation, that he 



168 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

may thereby make money for himself! Does this popular 
notion represent truly the character of our lawyers ? If so, 
God forbid that I should be one of them. I have already left 
one profession because, with my views, I could not honestly 
remain in it ; and I will not submit to defilement in any other. 
But it is not necessary. To meet adequately the requirements 
of his vocation, the lawyer must have the virtues, as well as 
the talents, which go to make the wise and perfect man. It 
shall be my study then to j)i-css forward towards the inarTc, for 
the prize of this high calling, however far I may fall below it." 

In the winter of 1787-8, he methodized and trans- 
cribed into a book, with an alphabetical arrangement, 
his legal notes and extracts; which he afterwards 
enlarged, and from time to time corrected, as his 
knowledge increased, till the whole formed a very tol- 
erable outline of law and practice, — a vade mecwn, 
which he carried with him to court, and often found 
useful as an epitome of principles, and an index to 
authorities. There were, at this time, no reports of 
judicial decisions, published by authority, in any of 
the states. Of such decisions only eight volumes, so 
far as I have been able to ascertain, were printed before 
1802, when he ceased regularly to attend the courts. 
Five hundred such volumes, perhaps a thousand, now 
offer the rich treasure of their abundant learning 
and research to the labor, if I may not rather say, to 
the despair, of the American student. He also about 
this time copied from the manuscripts of Theophilus 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 169 

Parsons brief notes of cases decided in Massachusetts, 
and added to them, from time to time, others decided 
in our own courts. This practice of reporting cases 
he continued for some years ; but, as his business in- 
creased, he lacked the time, or perhaps the patience, 
necessary to continue these reports. 

Under date of 1788, he writes, "My practice as a 
lawyer increases. My habit, early formed, of not 
deferring till to-morrow what can be done to-day, 
renders business easy to me. I manage my client's 
case as if it were my own, never consenting to con- 
tinuances for the sake of augmenting costs; but 
obtaining judgments as soon as I can. When money 
collected is once in my hands, no man has to call for 
it a second time. This, you may say, is a matter of 
course. Not so. When money is worth ten or 
twelve per cent., it is often harder to get it from the 
attorney than it was from the original debtor. As to 
my fees, they are moderate, never exceeding the 
lowest charges for the same services by others." 

In 1789, he was admitted to practice at the Supe- 
rior Court. Before this, his friend Parsons had taken 
care of his cases, when carried up from the Common 
Pleas. From this time his business gradually, but 
steadily increased. He was now evidently a grow- 
ing man, and he had none of the impatience which 
makes so many uneasy that they do not grow 
faster. It was, the next year, proposed to make 



170 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

him Judge of Probate for Rockingham county. In 
a letter to his friend Smith, July 6, 1790, he says, 
"I once thought I should be glad of this office. 
When contemplated at a distance, it pleased me; 
but, on a closer examination, I dislike it. My ambi- 
tion soars higher. There are but few offices I 
wish to hold, and these I cannot, at present, obtain." 
His business had, by this time, become so considera- 
ble that we find him complaining that it left him 
" little time for reading anything but law, and not 
enough even of that." 

Under the colonial government an appeal was 
allowed from the ordinary tribunals, in certain cases, 
to the governor and council. During the revolution, 
the same practice of going beyond the courts of law 
for redress was continued ; and the form which it took, 
under the constitution of 1784, was that of a special 
act of the Legislature, "restoring the party to his 
law," as it was called, that is, giving him a new trial 
in the Superior Court, after his case had come to its 
final decision in the ordinary course of law. Against 
such an act, in favor of a person to whom it was thus 
attempted to give a new trial, in the case Mc Clary 
vs. Oilman^ my father contended that the law was 
unconstitutional, and therefore void, on the ground, 
that, if it reversed the former judgment, it was repug- 
nant to the bill of rights, and the constitution of the 
state ; and that, if it did not reverse it, the court 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 171 

could not render another judgment in the same case, 
while the first remained in force. At the Septem- 
ber term, 1791, (Pickering, Chief Justice ; Dudley, 
Olcott and Farrar, Justices,) the court sustained the 
objection, dismissed the action, and ordered execu- 
tion on the former judgment. This, though not the 
first, was by far the most important instance in which 
the court had pronounced a law of the state uncon- 
stitutional. It was the exercise of a high and 
delicate act of power, which struck, in this case, at a 
long established and cherished usage. The supposed 
interest of lawyers in the multiplication of suits, the 
litigious spirit of parties, ever eager to grasp at new 
chances of success, and the love of power, natural 
to legislative bodies, all combined to render this 
irregularity in the administration of justice not unac- 
ceptable to the public. But though it required some^ 
courage in the attorney to take the exception, and 
more, perhaps, in the court to sustain it, the good 
sense of the people acquiesced in the decision. Some 
clamor was indeed made against the judges, as put- 
ting themselves above the Legislature ; and attempts 
were made at subsequent sessions, generally without 
success, by disappointed litigants to get laws passed 
granting them new trials. In 1817, such a law was 
passed; but the Superior Court, in an elaborate 
opinion, pronounced it unconstitutional. No attempt 
has been since made to reverse this decision. The 



172 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

true interests of the public were greatly promoted by 
this decision of 1791; and the law itself made, on 
that occasion, an important step in the progressive 
improvement, which, for the good of all parties, it so 
much needed. It would be interesting to know by 
what arguments this decision was advocated at the 
bar, and sustained on the bench. But beyond the 
brief notice of it among my father's papers, I am not 
aware that any report of the case is to be- found. 

Other points of law, more or less important, 
which were first decided by our courts on his motion, 
might be here stated ; but some of them were tech- 
nical merely, or without general interest ; and others 
I could state only from memory, without reference to 
time or place, or the names of the parties, and might, 
perhaps, give them incorrectly. His share in settling 
such cases, during the fifteen years of his active 
practice, was not inconsiderable. From 1797, Smith 
and Mason brought largely the weight of their learn- 
ing and their talents into the same worthy service. 
When five years later. Smith was advanced to the 
bench, he gave the authority of judicial decisions to 
opinions elaborated at the bar, by minds equal, and 
in some cases, superior to his own ; while Mason, 
during the forty years of his practice in the New 
Hampshire courts, brought to the development of 
legal principles, and the defining of judicial practice, 
the resources of a mind never surpassed, and equalled 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 173 

only, and, in its law merely, not equalled, b}^ the pre- 
ponderating intellect of Webster; who, a few years 
later, gave the full force of his youthful zeal and vigor 
to the same generous and ennobling tasks. Their 
united labors, aided by many other able lawyers — able 
but inferior to these — gave to New Hampshire a body 
of judicial decisions, of which, as well as of the judges 
by whom they were pronounced, she may be justly 
proud. Under their influence the law worked its 
way gradually out of the uncertainty and confusion, 
— I wish I could say out of the procrastination and 
delay, — in which I have described it as involved at 
an earlier period. The date at which we have arrived, 
was, however, but the commencement of this great 
reform. We proceed with our extracts. 

The state of my father's health at this time, 
(February, 1792,) compelled him to abandon all 
business which he could well avoid. At the Supe- 
rior Court at Portsmouth, "I was," he says, "too sick 
to transact business ; and found it difhcult to return 
home to my family. In this low state I remained for 
several weeks. The General Court, the courts of law, 
and the Convention, coming so close upon each other, 
were too much for me." Under date of February 5, 
1793, he says, "I am here attending the Common 
Pleas; and have more business than I can well 
despatch. It increases upon me daily." Towards the 
end of the year, he says, "I attended the Legislature 



174 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

several clays, during each of their sessions, and advo- 
cated more cases before them than any other lawyer." 
Though the practice of restoring men to their law, by 
acts of special legislation, no longer prevailed, public 
hearings, either before large committees, or before 
the House, and sometimes before both branches, were 
still not uncommon. The subjects thus discussed, 
often involved questions of law, politics and political 
economy, forming the most attractive and important 
business of the session. This legislative practice, in 
which he was largely engaged, kept up his acquain- 
tance with public men, and gave him much influence 
on the course of public events, even when he held no 
office. In 1794, he says, "Most of my time was 
devoted to business. I attended the Legislature only 
to advocate causes that were dejDending before them." 
In April, 1794, he writes: "The fatigues of court 
are forgotten when in the company of that incom- 
parable genius, Theophilus Parsons. The more I see 
and know of this great lawyer, the more I esteem and 
admire him." Parsons, who was the most learned 
lawyer of his time, had long practised in our courts. 
My father was employed, either with, or against him, 
in many of his cases. When on the same side, he 
usually argued the facts to the jury, and Parsons the 
law to the court. Parsons had the reputation with 
juries of being cunning, of knowing too much, and 
therefore not to be trusted by them. This suspicion 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 175 

impaired his influence witli the jury ; and even the 
court admired his learning and his ingenuity more 
than they followed his law. " It was here," says my 
father, "that I formed and cultivated an acquaintance 
with him, and received from him more useful informa- 
tion, not oEtly on legal, but on almost all other subjects, 
than from any other man." Of the "other subjects" 
on which he conversed with Parsons, one was religion. 
With both of them morals and theology were favorite 
subjects of inquiry; and their love of these was 
equalled only by their devotion to the law. In these 
respects their tastes were congenial; and their pleas- 
ure in such discussions was mutual and long con- 
tinued. Judge Story speaks of Parsons as a " man 
who belonged not to a generation, but to a century — 
the greatest lawyer of his time." My father, among 
other reminiscences of him, used to mention an 
instance of his extraordinary strength of memory. 
He had argued, at a previous term, a case in the 
Circuit Court, at Portsmouth, without obtaining a 
verdict. It now came on again for trial in his 
absence ; and the counsel for the defendant was 
closing his argument, when Parsons unexpectedly 
entered the court. His client insisted that he should 
address the jury in reply, though he had heard no 
part of the trial. After inquiring of his colleague as 
to the new testimony introduced, and finding that it 
was immaterial, he rose, and, to the astonishment of 



176 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

both court and jury, entered at once into all the 
details of the case ; stated minutely the testimony on 
both sides, including that now first introduced ; and, 
more successful than before, won a verdict for his 
client. It may help to explain his power of recol- 
lection in this case, without lessening our surprise at 
his general practice, to be told that, in jury trials, he 
took no notes of the testimony, and that his recollec- 
tion was so accurate, and his statements from it so 
impartial, as to be often appealed to, even by the 
opposing counsel. In questions of law, he would refer 
to book, chapter and section; and would quote from 
memory passages so apposite to the case in hand, that 
his opponents were sometimes tempted to susj)ect that 
he made the law, which he pretended to recite. The 
book, however, when consulted, showed that he had 
drawn on his memory, and not on his invention, for 
citations so much in point. "It is not remembered," 
says William Sullivan, "that he ever used a brief; 
his memory was his brief, and the best one a lawyer 
can use." 

Under date of 1795, I find only this entry to 
transcribe. "This year, like the last, I was almost 
entirely engaged in attending my professional busi- 
ness. I spent no portion of my time in idleness; 
none in the pursuits of pleasure. The hours not 
devoted to business or to sleep, were occupied in 
reading and studying, principally law, history, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 177 

politics." February 4, 1796, he says, "For this fort- 
nio-ht I have not been able to command a leisure 
moment. I am now at Portsmouth, attending the 
Common Pleas, quite jaded out with the drudgery 
of its servile business. The court sat late this eve- 
ning.. It is now twelve o'clock, and my exhausted 
spirits require the aid of sleep." March 25, 1796, 
he says, "The Superior Court failed to sit at Dover 
for want of a quorum. The Chief Justice, consulting 
an almanac, instead of the law, to know when his 
court was to meet, came a week after the time. This 
is his second failure, and both for the same cause. 
You may believe that clients complain of the delay, 
lawyers no less of their loss of fees ; and the people, 
of both court and bar ; though I do not well see how 
the latter is to blame in this case." Under date of 
1797, he says, "In March and February, I attended 
the Superior Court, two weeks at Portsmouth, and 
five at Dover, in succession. At both these courts I 
was constantly engaged at the bar, during the two 
sessions of each day ; and in the morning from light 
till breakfast, and in the evening till twelve o'clock 
at night, either in conversing with my clients, or in 
preparing their cases for trial. In these seven weeks 
I felt no fatigue ; and enjoyed each night six hours 
of sound repose. But the very evening the business 
closed, exertion being no longer necessary, my mind 
relaxed ; and I was so much fatigued, that for several 

12 



178 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

successive nights I was unable to obtain quiet sleep." 
There is no doubt that this severe labor, and these 
midnight vigils bore hard upon his health, though his 
spirits never failed, nor did his resolution falter, while 
there was occasion for exertion, or opportunity for 
improvement. 

For the most strenuous exertions there was now 
more than usual opportunity and occasion. In July 
of this year, Jeremiah Smith came to reside at 
Exeter, where George Sullivan was already in the 
practice, and in the following autumn, Jeremiah 
Mason removed to Portsmouth; and they both 
entered at once on the practice of law in this 
county. Smith was five months younger than my 
father; Mason nearly nine 3^ears younger. They 
were both in the vigor of manhood, and the pride 
of conscious power ; Smith, with an industry which 
set no bounds to its labors ; and Mason, with j)owers 
of mind, a capacity for toil, a devotion to business, 
and an intenseness of purpose, which made him ulti- 
mately the most accomplished common-law lawyer, 
that this country has yet produced. If to Plumer, 
Smith, Mason, and Sullivan, we add the name of 
Webster, who came to Portsmouth a few years later, 
it will readily be believed that the Rockingham bar 
was well denominated, at this period of its greatest 
strength, "the arena of giants." It, indeed, often 
witnessed the strife of Titans; weak men did not 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 179 

mingle in it ; strong men felt the need of all their 
strength. If, to change the comparison, my father, 
from age or character, was the Nestor or Ulysses of 
this assembly ; Smith, the Menelans, with a touch of 
the Thersites humor; and Mason, the Ajax or Aga- 
memnon, towering head and shoulders above the rest; 
the youthful vigor of Webster, in this first exhibition 
of his unrivalled power, " the flash and outbreak of a 
fiery mind," stamped itself boldly on all beholders, 
as the Achilles, impiger, iracundus, inexor'ahilis, acer, of 
the scene. To strangers, such language may seem 
extravagant. Perhaj)S it is so. But one who wit- 
nessed, always with admiration, sometimes with awe 
and reverence, the encounters of these extraordinary 
men, cannot speak of them in language ap23ropriate 
to the ordinary routine of practice in an obscure 
country court. Judge Story, wdio occasionally prac- 
tised before our judges, listened, when he came 
afterwards to preside here, in the Circuit Court, 
with un dissembled admiration and delight, to what 
he called " the vast law learning, and the prodigious 
intellectual power of the New Hampshire bar." That 
bar, though destined to lose some of its brightest 
ornaments, was not without its strong men, (witness 
Woodbury and Bartlett,) even after Plumer and 
Smith had withdrawn from the practice, and Mason 
and Webster had gone to assume, with the easy confi- 
dence of assured success, the same marked superiority, 



180 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in the metropolis of New England, which they had 
held in this original seat of their power. Neither 
Mason nor Webster ever forgot their early associates; 
and the latter, after practising in the first courts of 
the Union, told Choate that "he never met any where 
else abler men than some of those who initiated 
him in the rugged discipline of the New Hampshire 
courts." 

In anticipation of Smith's coming to Exeter, my 
father wrote to him, under date of January 12, 1797. 

" I am glad you have eventually fixed upon Exeter as the 
place of your permanent residence. I now calculate upon 
having a real friend near me ; which I consider a prize of 
inestimable value. I am sensible you will take numbers of 
my clients, and of course lessen my business. I am perfectly 
willing you should. It has been for some time my fixed 
determination to relinquish the practice of law within four 
years of this time. If no misfortune should overtake me, the 
income of my property will, by that time, afford me and my 
family a decent support. I am not ambitious of acquiring a 
fortune. I am now harassed and fatigued with business, in 
attending courts and references, and taking care of my own 
private affairs. I have no time to write you, except what I 
take from my pillow." 

March 23d, 1797. " I have just returned from Dover, after 
seven weeks constant attendance on the court in two counties. 
The court is now more respectable than the salaries of the 
judges would warrant us to expect. But I fear, if the Legis- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 181 

lature do not, at the next session, raise the salaries, the judges 
Avill resign. My townsmen in my absence have elected me a 
member of the House. I hope I shall have the pleasure of 
seeing you in the second week of our session. Previously to 
my election, I was of counsel, in some public hearings assigned 
for that week. I shall take the liberty to recommend my 
clients to your patronage." 

Writing to William Gordon, (June 18, 1797,) he 
says, " We have passed a vote, 73 to 62, giving the 
chief justice $850, and the puisne justices $800 each. 
It is not enough ; but is as much as we can obtain. 
I am for giving such salaries as will secure the right 
men, not a cent more, nor a mill less. You may call 
such salaries high, or low; I call them adequate ; that 
is, sufficient for the purpose for which they are given. 
If we can get the best men, (nothing else ought to 
satisfy us,) for the old salaries, $500 a year, so be it; 
if for not less than a thousand or fifteen hundred, I 
would give the larger sum just as freely as the 
smaller." In 1792, the salary of the chief justice was 
$600 ; in 1797, it was raised to $850, and in 1802, to 
$1,000 per annum. His letters and those of his cor- 
respondents at this period, are full of complaints on 
this subject. Lawyers fit for the office were unwilling 
to leave a lucrative practice at the bar for a seat, 
however honorable, on the bench; while the latter 
was so inadequately remunerated. Early the next 
year, two vacancies occurring on the bench of the? 



182 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 



Superior Court, Paine Wingate and 



were appointed to fill them. Wingate had been 
senator in Congress, and was by profession a clergy- 
man. , though a lawyer, did not hold a high 

rank in the j^rofession. The appointment was con- 
sidered an unfortunate one ; and my father was 
selected by his brethren of the bar to tell the new 
judge that he ought not to accept it. This ungra- 
cious task he performed so successfully that the 
judge sent back his commission to the Governor, and 
even thanked his adviser for his unwelcome coun- 
sel. " When I left him," says my father, " he seemed 
troubled, but not oiFended; mortified at the truths 
I had told him, but conscious that they were truths ; 
and told to him, though plainly, in no unfriendly 
temper." In reply to a letter, giving an account of 
this interview, Arthur Livermore, afterwards Chief 

Justice, says, "My sentiments respecting , accord 

perfectly with yours. To express them to him as 
forcibly and as freely as you did, would require more 
courage, I fear, than I possess." He adds, in a strain 
quite characteristic of the man, "What few of us 
there are here, (Holderness,) are perfectly Federal, 
ready to sign addresses, pay taxes, fight the French, 
or do any thing else that is clever." Those earnest 
old men, (young men then), were alternately lawyers 
find politicians ; equally zealous in the one case, and 
active in the other. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 183 

To William Gordon, he writes, (February 6, 1798,) 
^Late, very late, last night, I borrowed, from the 
sleepy god, time to write thus far. I am now, late in 
the evening, at my lodgings again, relieved from my 
teasing clients." To the same, (April 2d,) "What a 
court we have to judge of special pleadings, and 
decide nice and abstruse questions of law ! The Chief 
Justice is incapable of close reasoning. Farrar is a 
better judge, but is not a lawyer. Wingate, who 
has just been appointed, has talents too ; but a 
clergyman, put upon the bench at sixty, is too old 
to enter with success on a new career. These are 
your eight hundred dollar judges, worth, no doubt, 
what they cost; but is not the state entitled to better 
men; and can she have them while she refuses to 
pay for thejr services ?" He afterwards wrote "Win- 
gate was a man of integrity, of a strong mind, and 
a retentive memory, but ignorant of law. In trying 
causes, he looked to what he called the equity of 
the case ; not what the law calls equity ; but his 
own individual opinion' of what was right as between 
the parties before him. The court and jury became, 
under this notion of equity, not a legal tribunal, but 
a board of arbitrators who made the law for the case, 
rather than applied to it a law already made. Their 
law came, in the phrase of Bacon, from their own 
brains, not from other men's books. Yet, it cannot 
be denied that Dudley, Farrar, and Wingate w^ere, on 



184 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the whole, better judges, because abler men, than 
Newcomb, Olcott, and Claggett, though the latter 
were lawyers by profession." " Farrar," said Judge 
Smith, "is more of a lawyer than Olcott, and more 
of a judge than Newcomb." Their decisions were 
often just, and even legal, when the reasons which 
they gave for them were such as no lawyer could 
approve. Content to dispose of the cases before 
them, according to their notions of right, they paid 
little attention to the decisions of former judges ; and 
were as little anxious to furnish precedents which 
should be binding on their successors. 

" I could have the office of judge," writes my 
father, June 20th, 1798, "if I would accej)t it; but 
its duties are too laborious for my feeble constitution; 
and the salary is inadequate. If my property were 
sufficient, no situation would have so many charms 
for me as a strictly private life, in which 1 could have 
leisure for society, and time for stud}^ Business, 
pressing day and night, wears upon my health, and 
sometimes, I fear, upon my temper." He, however, 
accepted, about this time, the appointment of County 
Solicitor, which, being in the line of his profession, 
he consented, at the request of Governor Oilman, to 
hold for the present, with an understanding that he 
should resign it when he pleased. "I am determined," 
he says, " to quit the bar, as soon as I can settle my 
business, and j)erform the engagements already made 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 185 

with my clients, I have been too careless of my 
health, and have suffered severely by my devotion to 
business, which is becoming daily more irksome. I 
have little time for reading or study, except what 
ought to be given to sleep." It should be recollected 
that he was, at this time, in full practice at the bar, a 
member of the Legislature, and, though holding no 
high office, the acknowledged and efficient leader of 
his party in the state. 

A branch of business which now gave him much 
trouble, and made him, along with some warm friends, 
many enemies, was connected with the great interests 
of religious freedom, which he had always so much 
at heart. The Congregational clergy in the state had 
been originally settled by the towns or parishes where 
they preached; and the inhabitants were all taxed 
for their support. But many individuals of their 
congregations, having now become Baptists, Metho- 
dists, or Universalists, were no longer willing to pay 
for preaching which they did not attend. Property 
had been taken in many cases, on distraint, for taxes 
so assessed, and suits were commenced to ascertain 
the rights of the parties. He refused, in such cases, 
to be of counsel for any town or parish, which sought 
to compel men to pay taxes, contrary to their will, 
for religious purposes; but offered his services readily 
to those who claimed exemption from such taxes. 
Suits of this kind were now tried, which excited 



186 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

much interest in the community; and in some of 
them he won verdicts of tlie jury against the charges 
of the court. In one such case, where the party 
resisting the tax was a Universalist, the decision 
was against him. Judge Wingate charged the jury 
that, if the party claiming the exemption, did not 
prove himself, in the words of the Constitution, to 
belong to "another persuasion, sect, or denomination," 
he was bound to pay his tax for the support of the min- 
ister of the town ; and that, to make him such, the 
difference must be something more than that which 
separated Calvinists from Universalists ; in other 
words, that a person who believed in universal salva- 
tion might, in the eye of the law, be of the same 
persuasion with another, who believed that not one 
in ten would be saved. They agreed, said the judge, 
in more points than they differed in. They were 
both Christians; and the inference, somewhat harshly 
drawn, was that they were both bound to support the 
same preacher. Wingate's zeal, in this class of cases, 
was probably political rather than religious, for he 
was not himself quite orthodox in his belief But 
the sectaries were nearly all Republicans; while the 
Congregationalists, especially the clergy, were gener- 
ally Federalists. 

Wingate did not confine himself, on this subject, to 
charges from the bench. "During the session of the 
Superior Court at Dover, (February, 1799,) Judge 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 187 

Livermore privately informed me," says my father, 
"that his brethren, Farrar and Wingate, had expressed 
to him a decided disapprobation of my constancy and 
zeal in supporting those who claimed exemption from 
taxes for the maintenance of clergymen. I replied, 
I was sorry that any of the court were so much in 
favor of supporting a privileged order ; but that this 
circumstance, instead of checking, would increase my 
exertions; and so long as I remained at the bar, the 
court would find me a persevering and determined 
advocate for the rights of conscience and of property, 
both involved in these issues." The Constitution of 
1792 was intended to secure to all religious de- 
nominations the most perfect religious freedom, and 
to prevent the "subordination of any one sect or 
denomination to another." But much was yet to be 
done, both with courts and juries, and especially with 
the great mass of the religious community, before 
this equality of all sects in the eye of the law, 
and their independence of one another, could be 
brought home to the understandings of the people, 
and carried out in courts of law, to its practical results. 
These religious prosecutions were among the most 
important means, though not so designed, for effecting 
this desirable object. It was not, however, till the 
Toleration Act of 1819, that full effect was given to 
those principles of religious freedom, for which my 
father had so early and earnestly contended. He 



188 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

always regarded with complacency the influence he 
had exerted in bringing about this salutary change. 

In connection with this subject, though having no 
relation to it, he mentions another rule of practice, 
which he early adopted, that of affording his aid to 
the 2^oor, for the maintenance of their rights, without 
fee or reward. "1 never withheld," he says, "on 
account of his poverty, my services, or the money 
necessary to carry on his suit, from any man who 
applied to me, if his cause appeared to be just. 
Though I lost by this class of persons thousands of 
dollars, either in money actually advanced, or ser- 
vices performed, I never regretted the sacrifice. It 
increased my labor, and made some hard, unprinci- 
pled men, my enemies ; but even they felt for me 
more respect than hatred ; and it interested the 
feelings of better men in my favor." 

In 1800, I do not find much among his papers 
respecting his professional business, except, indeed, 
complaints of its pressure beyond his power of 
endurance, and declarations of his intention not to be 
much lono-er the slave of other men's business to the 
neglect of his own, and the injury of his health. 
The statute of limitations, as it respects actions on the 
case, took full effect this year. " This circumstance so 
much increased," he says, "my professional labors, 
that, added to my ordinary business, and my attend- 
ance on the Legislature, there was little time left 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 189 

me for reading, study, or amusement of any kind." 
Sickness prevented his attending, the next year, the 
September term (1801) of the Superior Court at 
Exeter. " This was," he says, " a serious injury to 
me, and to many of my cHents, who could not readily, 
without previous notice, supply my place in their 
causes. As this ill health seemed likely to continue, 
I determined, as soon as previous engagements would 
permit, to relinquish my profession, to which my 
strength was no longer equal. I accordingly began 
in earnest to settle my accounts, collect my debts, 
and invest my money where it would be safe, and 
give me a reasonable return, without requiring much 
of my time or attention." 

In June, of the next year, he was elected Senator 
in Congress; and his accepting this appointment 
may be considered as virtually putting an end to 
his practice as a lawyer. "In August," he says, 
" I resigned my office of Solicitor, my determination 
being to relinquish the profession of the law alto- 
gether. My duty as Senator will prevent my 
attending nearly half the courts in the year, unless I 
neglect the public service for my own private emolu- 
ment, which I have no right to do." Though for 
several years after this he attended some of the 
courts, and argued cases, either under previous 
engagements, or occasionally for some of his old 
clients, he never afterwards gave himself wholly up 



190 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 

to the business, or returned regularly to the profession. 
He was forty-three years old when elected Senator, 
and had not yet seen half his days. But his health 
was seriously impaired, and he seems to have consid- 
ered his life as drawing to a close. Considering the 
great age which he finally attained, it is remarkable 
how often he was attacked, and almost mastered, in 
early and middle life, by diseases which, at the time, 
seemed well-nigh fatal. It is not less remarkable that 
so slender a constitution should have been capable of 
such severe and long-continued labor. But he was 
abstemious in his diet, regular in his habits, and 
generally careful not to exceed the measure of his 
strength, though never sparing of his exertions when 
the occasion required. 

I have given these extracts from letters, and 
fragments of journals, as presenting, with the accom- 
panying commentary, a better view, on the whole, of 
his labors in the profession, than any more general 
description could convey. There remains to be given, 
in the next chapter, some account of his character, 
practice and attainments as a lawyer, and of the 
opinions entertained of him by his principal associates 
at the bar. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAWYER.— (CONTINUED.) 

The life of a successful lawyer, though full of inter- 
est to himself and others, has ordinarily few inci- 
dents which can be made the subject of protracted 
narrative. The labors of years shrink in the recital 
into a few pages. Particular cases of more than 
ordinary interest, might, indeed, be made to fill 
chapters, and even volumes. The subject of this 
memoir was engaged in some such, which, if properly 
reported, would have been characteristic of the man, 
and illustrative of the times. But such reports were 
not then made, and cannot now be procured. Proba- 
bly in no department of life is there displayed so 
much talent which leaves no record, as in the trial of 
cases in courts of law. Shrewd management and 
ready wit, the keen retort, the deep learning, and the 
impassioned eloquence of the accomplished lawyer, 
all come into play, and tell strongly on the result. 
But they do their work, and are seen no more. Felt 
and admired at the time, they go to make up the 
contemporary estimate of character, living on the 
spot, and in the memory of those who witnessed 



192 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

them, but not to be reproduced for other times, and 
other admirers. However good in themselves, and 
effective in their original connection, they are essen- 
tially of the things which perish with the usin(/. No 
attempt will therefore be here made to give any 
account of particular trials in which my father was 
concerned — the causes celebres of his time. They are 
lost in the obscurity of the past, and with them much 
of the reputation which they helped to build ujd, 
carent quia sacro vote. " They had no poet, and they 
died ; " no stenographer, and they are unreported. 

There was, in my father's time, so little division of 
labor in the profession, that he had, from the first, 
to sustain the various characters of an adviser, a 
conveyancer, a special pleader, an examiner of wit- 
nesses, a narrator of facts to the jury, and an arguer 
of law to the court — barrister, attorney, solicitor, 
advocate, in regular and rapid succession. An account 
of him in these different relations will give us some 
further insight into his j)rofessional character, and his 
standing at the bar. As a counsellor, in his office, he 
was patient in hearing the stories of his clients, and 
searching in his inquiries as to the true merits of 
their cases, before giving them his advice. They 
were often surprised to find, after a few pertinent 
inquiries, that he understood their cases better than 
they did themselves. He was slow to advise the 
commencement of suits, and he never did so where 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 193 

he had any reasonable doubt as to the result. His 
judgment was so sound in this respect, that he seldom 
misled his clients. After the first three or four years 
of his practice, he had no temptation to plunge men 
into uncertain litigation from the desire to increase 
his own emoluments. He had business enough ; and 
it was often less a favor to him to be employed, than 
it was an advantage to his client to secure his services. 
He had, first and last, sent away, he said, a regiment 
of men; many of whom, though dissatisfied at the 
time, came back when their passions were cooled, to 
thank him for keeping them out of the law, offering 
to pay him for not doing what they were before eager 
to have him do. But though slow to begin in doubtful 
cases, when once engaged, no repulse ever discouraged 
him. A first, or even a second verdict did not pre- 
vent his trying again, when he felt that his cause was 
a good one ; and his perseverance often won, on the 
final trial, causes which more timid or less resolute 
men would have abandoned in despair. 

In the drafting of legal instruments, in the profes- 
sion of the conveyancer, and its kindred employments, 
he ' was peculiarly happy. He saw clearly, in such 
cases, what was wanted, and he knew how, in precise 
and accurate phraseology, to express it. The need- 
less verbosities, the repetitions, and involutions with 
which legal instruments are usually so much encum- 
bered, found little favor with him. He expressed, ia 

13 



194 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

a few words, plainly and directly, the intention of the 
parties ; and as to "the rest, residue, and remainder," 
the boundless contiguity of unnecessary or unmeaning 
words, in which such intention is often not so much 
manifested as concealed, he left that to those who 
took delight in the darkness of these time-honored 
ambiguities. Among the legal improvements which 
he recommended, was the publication, by authority, 
of a book of forms for the ordinary business purposes 
of life ; in which clearness, brevity and simplicity 
should be studied, and certainty secured, instead of 
the obscurity, tautology, redundancy and circumlo- 
cutions often found in such instruments. Akin to 
this business of preparing instruments of conveyance, 
bond, and obligation, is that of drawing writs and 
declarations, and the science of special pleading. 
With the elaborately artificial, yet to the eye of the 
initiated beautiful system of English special pleading, 
he was less acquainted than with some other branches 
of the common law. " My preceptor Prentice was," 
he says, "profoundly ignorant on this subject; and I 
never acquired that thorough knowledge of it, which 
is necessary to make a finished lawyer. Though I 
do not recollect a single plea, or declaration, in the 
course of my practice, which I lost, for want either 
of form or substance, my diffidence, arising from 
imperfect knowledge on this subject, often gave me 
uneasiness, and occasioned loss of time in studying 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 195 

particular cases, which a more extensive knowledge 
would have enabled me at once to comprehend." 
Special pleading was not much in use when he first 
came to the bar, as may be readily understood by 
the anecdote of Mason and West in the last chapter. 
It did not indeed become a matter of much attention 
till towards the close of his practice ; so that, if he 
was not learned in this part of his profession, he had 
less occasion than he would have had, at a later 
period, for such learning. But with Sullivan, Smith 
and Mason for opponents, if he never lost a plea or 
declaration for defect of form or substance, it may be 
inferred, notwithstanding his modest disclaimer, that 
he was not, even in this branch of the law, very 
deficient. In the art of special pleading, Parsons, we 
are told, had no competitor; it Was Parsons's book of 
forms which he had copied in Prentice's office ; and 
with Parsons he was often engaged as junior counsel, 
and sometimes as opponent. 

His action once in court, and the pleadings fairly 
closed, the lawyer's next care is to bring his case 
favorably before the jury. The examination of wit- 
nesses is one of the severest tests of his capacity, 
requiring, often, in no ordinary degree, alternate 
boldness and caution, skill, judgment, promptness 
and self-possession. In the discharge of this difficult 
part of his professional duty, my father was much 
distinguished. While seemingly intent only on the 



196 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

discovery of the exact truth in the case, he knew 
how to bring out from the witness just what he 
wanted to prove by him; and to bring out no 
more, when more would be prejudicial to his client. 
Assuming in his inquiries the position of the jury, he 
seemed himself as one of them, acting as their fore- 
man, asking questions for them, solely with a view to 
elicit the truth of the case ; and not as the advocate 
of one of the parties, whose aim it might be to mis- 
lead and deceive them. The witness, on his part, 
felt that, though he had a friend in his examiner, 
it was one who could not be deceived, and would 
not accept less than he had a right to require. The 
timid witness grew confident under the influence of 
his cheerful tones and encouraging smiles; the stupid 
brightened into sense in the clearness of his perti- 
nent inquiries; the hostile was disarmed by his 
kindness ; the cunning thrown off his guard by his 
ease of manner, and the apparent harmlessness of 
the questions asked. In cross-examination, his man- 
ner was cautious and conciliatory; but keen and 
persevering in the pursuit of truth ; quick to detect 
error or contradiction; and when concealment was 
attempted or falsehood uttered, it was no ordinary 
man who could stand unmoved the indignant flashes 
of his angry eye, or meet, without shrinking and 
confusion, the storm of searching questions, plied in 
rapid succession, and coming in unexpected variety 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 197 

and force from every quarter of the horizon, mth 
which he bore down and swept before him the 
baffled, self-convicted, and, to all eyes, perjured wit- 
ness. The snarl of contradiction and improbability, 
in which he wound him up, and threw him indig- 
nantly from him as unworthy of further notice, left 
the opposing counsel little hope of ever smoothing 
out ao-ain the tano;led skein of falsehood and self- 
condemnation. Such a witness required no new 
dissection in arguing the case to the jury. His fate 
had been settled on the stand ; and with it perhaps 
the case itself, already well-nigh won by the triumph- 
ant cross-examination. This, however, was not his 
usual manner. In general, he won the reluctant 
witness by mildness rather than by force ; and drew 
from him slowly, by indirection, the truth which he 
had come prepared to conceal, but which the adroit 
questioning of the quiet and civil examiner had 
drawn from him unawares. While by apt questions, 
skilfully applied, he led his own witnesses to tell 
what they knew, in the order best calculated to 
give effect to their testimony, he drew with equal 
skill, from the witnesses on the other side, what 
his opponent had purposely kept out of sight, as 
adverse to his cause. What questions may be 
safely asked, when to press a reluctant witness, and 
when it is better to forbear, are points in practice 
which it is not always easy to decide; but which 



198 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

must be settled promptly on the spot, and sometimes 
at the risk of losing the case by a single rash ques- 
tion. His rare sagacity served him well on such 
occasions; and he seldom received, even from the 
most unfriendly witness, an answer which left his 
case the worse for the asking. 

Witnesses under the pressure of this close cross- 
examination are often tempted to turn on their 
pursuer with some impertinent inquiry or remark, 
either to relieve their embarrassment, or to dis- 
concert the examiner by turning his attention to 
his own defence. Mr. Webster told me that he once 
saw my father so assailed. He was examining a 
noted quack doctor, whom he had pressed rather 
hard, and from whom he could, at last, get no other 
answer to his inquiries than, "I do not know, sir." 
After this had been several times repeated, the ques- 
tion came, "Can you say. Doctor, that, as a physician, 
you know any thing?" Changing at once the tone 
of pretended ignorance, with which he had answered 
the former inquiries, he drew himself up to his full 
height, and said, with great confidence, "I knoAV, 
Squire Plumer, as much of medicine, as you did of 
divinity, when you were a Baptist preacher." This 
sally drew a smile from the court and bar, and 
seemed to the audience a very fair hit. His exam- 
iner said very quietly, "When I found that preach- 
ing was not my proper business, I had sense enough 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 199 

to leave it. If you, Doctor, had possessed as much, 
you would have left off the practice of medicine 
years ago, and saved me the trouble of exposing 
your ignorance and presumption in this case." The 
laugh was now on the other side ; and the Doctor, 
who no longer affected ignorance, but showed it 
more than ever, was pressed home with yet closer 
and more searching questions, and finally dismissed 
crest-fallen and discredited from the stand. 

My father never allowed any collateral issue to 
draw him for a moment from the question before the 
court. No temptation to show his wit, his eloquence, 
or his learning prompted him to ask questions, make 
points, or indulge in remarks, which did not bear 
clearly and directly on the case under consideration. 
To be told that he had made an eloquent speech 
gave him less pleasure than to find that he had won 
his cause, or, if he had lost it, to know that no fault 
in its management could be imjDuted to him. He ac- 
cordingly made no speeches for display, no eloquent 
declamation to be admired by the audience ; but put 
himself closely and resolutely down to the precise 
question before him, the facts in the case, and the 
law that should govern it. He had in this way no 
occasion for long speeches. An hour, an hour and a 
half, or, in a few intricate cases, two hours at the 
most, sufficed for all that he had to say. He left 
speeches, he said, of four or five hours, to those who 



200 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

could not make them shorter. His style of speaking 
was adapted to his audience. He never spoke over 
the heads of his hearers. There were no nice law 
distinctions for jurors ; no refinements of thought for 
plain farmers; but strong sense, and familiar but 
striking illustrations, level to their comprehension, 
and accordant with their tastes. 

His skill in telling his story was so great that his 
narration of facts was often the whole of his address 
to the jury. He had the happy faculty of conveying 
an argument in a narrative form, and could half 
refute an opponent by merely stating his positions. 
The jury went along with him in his facts, and before 
him in his conclusions, wondering how facts so plain 
could be doubted, or conclusions so obvious denied, 
on the other side. Omitting all that was vmimportant 
in the testimony, he dwelt only on the strong points 
of the case, and made as few of these as possible ; 
aware that a few strong points are better than many 
weak ones. The clearness of his mind, which saw at 
once the true position and relative weight of the 
facts, infused itself gradually into the minds of the 
jury, and whatever of indistinctness or confusion 
hovered at first over the case, soon disappeared 
before the simplicity of his statement, and the force 
and precision of his reasoning. The facts fell natu- 
rally into their proper places, or at least into the 
places best suited to his purposes, converging steadily 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 201 

to the same point, and all leading to the desired 
conclusion. He used to say that before speaking five 
minutes, and often while examining the witnesses, he 
had felt the pulse of the jury, and knew how they 
stood affected towards his client. If he found an 
individual hostile or indifferent, he fixed his eye 
upon him, drew his attention to the strong points of 
the case, and did not leave him till his looks showed 
that his attention was secured, his doubts removed, 
and his hostility softened, if not overcome. His saga- 
city was seldom at fault in discovering the character 
of men in their looks; and his intercourse with 
all classes was so extensive, that few entered court, 
whether as parties, jurors, or witnesses, whom he 
did not know, and to whom he could not sjDcak 
with the advantage of some personal acquaintance 
with their characters, interests, and feelings. He 
possessed, in an eminent degree, that nice tact of 
the orator, which reveals to him, as he advances, the 
impression he is making on his hearers; and tells 
him, at once, when he has gone far enough, when he 
has touched on too tender a point, when he has 
made a happy hit, and, above all, when it is time to 
stop. He was, therefore, never tedious to his hearers ; 
nor "thought of convincing, while they thought of 
dining." 

He had the dramatic faculty of throwing himself, 
by turns, into the position of his client, his opponent. 



202 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

his witnesses, the court, and the jury; and, whatever 
might be the case in hand, he seemed to feel the 
passions which it was his object to insjDire. Yet this 
warmth of feehng took nothing from the coolness of 
his judgment, or the skill with which, while choosing 
his own positions, he repelled the attacks of his 
opponent. The power of his eloquence was not in 
studied language, in artificial arrangement, or in 
pomp of declamation, of which he had nothing, but 
in the fervor of the feelings to which he gave utter- 
ance, and the force and clearness of the thoughts 
which sprang, as if spontaneously, from the convictions 
of his own mind, — an imj)ulse which, it seemed, he 
could not himself resist, and to which others, there- 
fore, the more • readily yielded. The contagion of 
passion spread from his own to other bosoms; the 
ardor of conviction from the advocate to his hearers. 
It seemed less the zeal of professional duty, than the 
energy of truth, which inspired him. The power of 
entering, not with apparent fervor, merely, but, for 
the moment, with the true warmth of genuine sym- 
pathy, into the merits of his client's case, yet without 
losing the self-possession necessary to judicious advo- 
cacy, is the rare attribute of the accomplished and 
successful advocate. When, from the nature of the 
case, this warmth of feeling was unnecessary, or would 
have been out of place, his coolness, promptness, 
sagacity, and strong practical common sense, left 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 203 

nothing unattempted which could secure success. 
SulUvan, Smith, Mason and Webster, were employed 
against him ; yet no client of his ever complained 
that his cause suffered, either from want of talent or 
information in his attorney, from indifference to his 
interests, or inability to maintain them, against even 
such opponents. 

That such men put his powers to the proof cannot 
be doubted. Speaking of his own training, in the 
same severe school of practice, Mr. Webster said, on 
the occasion of Mr. Mason's death, " I must have been 
unintelligent, indeed, not to have learned something 
from the constant display of that power, which I had 
so much occasion to see and feel." No man of ordi- 
nary talents or attainments could hold his ground in 
these struggles, or come out of them uninjured. 
Yet, in the severest competitions of the bar, — ^^the 
conflict of mind with mind, in which learning and 
skill, wit and eloquence, promptness and audacity, 
were all in turn required, — there was an intenseness 
of life and enjoyment, an excitement of feeling, an 
enlargement of heart, and a power of intellect 
exerted, which made such encounters at once delight- 
ful to my father, and dangerous to his health. His 
frame was not equal to the labors of his vocr.tion ; 
and he seldom returned from court without being 
confined for days, by illness, to his room, and some- 
times to his bed. More than once, these attacks 



204 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

produced such utter prostration of strength, as to 
threaten, for a time, to end his labors Avith his hfe. 

It only remains to speak of his mode of arguing 
questions of law to the court. The practical turn of 
his mind was here conspicuous. He indulged in none 
of those nice, wire-drawn distinctions, which, though 
the delight of subtile intellects, are too refined for the 
coarse business of ordinary life. He rested his case 
mainly on broad views of justice, on that compre- 
hensive common sense which leads by obvious steps 
to practical results, — to those precise and definite 
conclusions with which life and daily practice can be 
alone conversant. He had habitually little reverence 
for authority, and was more fond of appealing to the 
reason of the law than to the weight or number of 
adjudged cases. Regarding jurisprudence as a science, 
resting on general principles of right and justice, he 
labored to make himself master of those principles; 
and trusted to his own strong reasoning powers to 
carry them out, in practice, to their legitimate con- 
clusions. He was, therefore, a sound reasoner on 
questions of law, rather than a deep-read or bookish 
lawyer ; and prided himself less on the learning of 
cases, than on his acquaintance with the reason, the 
nature, and the objects of the law ; arguing mainly 
from elementary principles and acknowledged truths 
to the conclusions which he sought to establish. 
When these were reached, if he added a few strong 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 205 

cases, in confirmation of his doctrines, it was for the 
satisfaction of others, rather than because they seemed 
necessary to his own mind. 

In this, as in some other respects, he resembled 
Samuel Dexter, of Boston, who came sometimes into 
our courts, rather than Theophilus Parsons, who prac- 
tised for many years, regularly, in them. These 
distinguished lawyers being, on one occasion, opposed 
to each other. Dexter, who had comparatively little 
law learning, said, in the conclusion of his argument, 
" The law in this case is as I have explained it ; and 
it lies, as your Honors see, in the compass of a nut- 
shell. My brother Parsons has here a basket full of 
law books ; and he will endeavor to show from them 
that it is all the other way. But one plain dictate 
of common sense, one clear maxim of the common 
law, is worth a cart-load of such rubbish." This 
was said as a taunt, perhaps; but it marked, to 
a certain extent, the character of the man. Some- 
thing of the same kind is told of Judge Marshall, 
who, in consultation with the Judges of the Su- 
preme Court, is said, on some occasion, to have laid 
down the law, as deduced by him from acknowl- 
edged legal principles, in a train of powerful 
reasoning, and to have concluded by saying, " Such 
appears to me to be the law in this case ; though I 
have not, I confess, looked much into the books in 
reference to it. If I am correct, our brother Story, 



20& LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

here," turning with a benignant smile to that learned 
jurist, " can give us the cases, from the Ten Tables 
down to the latest term-reports." Something of the 
same difference of mental habit existed in the case of 
Smith and my father. Smith was learned in law 
books, and elaborate in cited cases. My father dealt 
less with authorities, and more with the reason of the 
law. While the one sought the rule among conflict- 
ing precedents, the other found it in the immutable 
principles of truth and justice. 

Not that my father despised authorities, or failed 
to use them when they served his purpose, as with a 
certain class of minds they always do, better than 
abstract reasoning, or an appeal to general principles. 
The authorities sometimes cited by him, though quite 
effective, were not always such as would be deemed 
pertinent at the present day. He used to tell, with 
great glee, of having, in his early practice, carried a 
point of law against Parsons, who relied on English 
authorities, by a quotation from the law of Moses, 
which seemed to the court, and especially to Judge 
Dudley, entitled to more weight than any citation 
which Parsons could make from Coke, or Hale, or 
my Lord Mansfield. " Mansfield," exclaimed Judge 
Dudley, " that is the cunning Scotchman, who, with 
Lord North and George the Third, would have made 
slaves of us all." It was not, however, for law to the 
court, so much as for argument and illustration with 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 207 

the jury, that his scriptural knowledge was useful to 
him in such cases. A text from the Bible would, at 
the present day, be lost on the court, and might, 
perhaps, avail little with the juYy. It was not so in 
the latter half of the eighteenth century, when both 
court and jury knew more of the Bible than of 
law-books. The men who then filled the jury-box 
had read their Bibles, and many of them little else. 
A scriptural quotation was often more effective with 
them than an argument from any other source. In 
this way, the former eloquent preacher, and present 
sagacious lawyer, came down upon his opponents 
with a weight of authority, and an a23tness of illus- 
tration, which seldom foiled of its intended effect. 
The law of the case, as laid down in the books, was 
of course argued and explained ; but it never seemed 
so strong to the jury as when enforced by some 
precept of the Mosaic law, some shrewd saying of 
the wise King of Israel, or some fervid injunction of 
the apostle of the Gentiles. The habit of scripture 
quotations, which came to us from the Puritan 
fathers, and which is now getting a little obsolete, 
was, at that time, much in accordance with the 
popular taste. It was to my father what the Greek 
and Latin poets are to the classical scholar. With 
the classics of our own language, with the exception 
of Pope, whose terse and brilliant couplets he often 
quoted, he was, in the early part of his career, but 



208 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

little acquainted. It was not till his fiftieth year that 
he read the entire works of Shakspeare ; and he 
expressed to me his regret that, for the purposes of 
the bar, as well as on so many other accounts, he had 
not been earlier conversant with the wit and the wis- 
dom, the depth and the universality of Shakspeare's 
knowledge of human nature, his familiarity with 
every phasis of life and action, and his mastery of 
all the passions and emotions of the soul. 

I mentioned, in a former chapter, the names of the 
principal lawyers at the bar, with whom Mr. Plumer 
had to act when he was first admitted to the practice. 
As the older among them were gradually withdrawn 
by death, or other causes, from the forensic strife, 
the younger Sullivan, Smith, Mason, and Webster, 
came successively on, not to take their j)laces merely, 
but to give new power and a higher interest to the 
generous and ennobling competition. To compare 
my father with these great lawyers would be a 
difficult task in itself, and certainly one of some deli- 
cacy for the present writer. It will not be here 
attempted; yet a few traits in the character of each, 
as contrasted with his, may not be out of place in 
this estimate of his character and standing at the 
bar. George Sullivan was for forty years in full 
practice at Exeter ; and, as Attorney-General, which 
of&ce his father had filled before him, and his son has 
since filled, he rode the circuit of the State, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 209 

practised in all the counties. He was a classical 
scholar, and professed to have formed himself on the 
model of the great Roman orator. He was well 
read, according to the standard of law learning in 
that day ; a good special pleader, quick to perceive 
the bearings of his case, and ready of resource in 
new emergencies. In addressing the jury, he was 
master of an easy and harmonious flow of ready 
elocution, which, though little varied, was the delight 
of jurors, and the admiration of crowds of eager 
listeners, who were never tired of praising his hand- 
some person, his fine attitudes, and elegant attire, and 
who hung with rapture on the soft sounds of his 
silver voice. His peculiar style of measured and 
almost rhythmical speaking, he is said, by Judge 
Smith, to have caught from Samuel Dexter. If he 
was in this an imitator, his son is not less so, — it was 
more probably natural in both. With his mildness 
and decorum of manner, there was in his tempera- 
ment a keen sensibility of feeling which contrasted 
strongly with the contemptuous power of Mason, 
and, when occasion demanded it, with the withering 
scorn of Webster. The anger of Sullivan flashed, 
indeed, like gunpowder ; but the puff was as quickly 
overblown. No man was, in general, more courteous 
and gentlemanly in his bearing, or stood better with 
his brethren of the bar. My father's manner was, in 
many respects, the reverse of that of SuUivan. With 

14 



210 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

none of his pomp of oratory, he had more variety of 
expression, and more force of thought, and was less 
hable to be thrown suddenly from his track by the 
impulse of passion. 

With Smith, he had many points of agreement. 
Lawyers by profession. Federal in their politics, and 
liberal in their religious views; regular in their 
habits, and indefatigable in business ; fond of books, 
and devoted to letters, at a time when such devotion 
was less common than at present, they had been for 
many years warm friends and constant correspond- 
ents. There were, however, quite as many points in 
which they differed. The one was grave, thoughtful, 
direct and earnest ; the other quaint, full of humor, 
and addicted to irony. The turn of the one was to 
original thought ; that of the other to accumulated 
learning. The one was brief, pointed, sententious; 
the other copious and diffusive, going over the ground 
in repeated excursions, heaping up facts and law, 
arguments and illustrations, till he seemed sometimes 
lost in the superfluity of his abundance. In several 
important cases, after Smith's removal to Exeter, in 
which they were opposed to each other, the one made 
his clear, forcible, and well reasoned speech of forty 
minutes or an hour, and won his cause ; the other his 
brilliant and witty harangue of two or three hours, 
and lost it. Not that Smith was an unsuccessful advo- 
cate ; but the result of many trials proved that he 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 211 

was stronger with his law for the court, than with his 
facts for the jury. In 1802, he took his seat on the 
bench of the Superior Court, where, as Chief Justice, 
he acquired eminent reputation by his learning, his 
industry, and his high legal attainments. 

Mr. Mason came to the Rockingham bar in 1797; 
and it was at once felt that his Titanic bulk and 
elephantine movement were but the due accompani- 
ment and emblems of a mind as gigantic, standing 
intellectually, as well as physically, above other men. 
Cool, wary, devoted to his client, and prompt to seize 
every advantage, whether of form or substance, which 
could aid his cause ; in knowledge of the law, in abil- 
ity to bring its remotest analogies and most subtile 
distinctions to bear strongly on the question before 
the court, in legal acumen, and cumulative power of 
close reasoning, he had no equal at the bar, or on the 
bench. If he was sometimes too refined and minute 
in his distinctions, it was because he saw clearly him- 
self, and could make j)alpahle to others shades of 
difference in cases, which, to ordinary minds, seemed 
identical. In the examination of witnesses he was 
not less distinguished. Woe to the dishonest witness 
who fell under the grasp of his unsparing hand. No 
engine of torture ever made joints snap, and nerves 
and sinews strain and crack, with more merciless 
severity, than did the questions with which he plied 
the reluctant or perjured witness, wrench from him 



212 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the facts which he sought in vain to withhold, or 
disjoint and dismember the specious falsehoods put 
forward by him under the guise of truth. No accu- 
mulation of cunning was too deep for him to pierce 
it. He bored the strata in every direction, and to all 
imaginable depths, till, if there was a vein of false- 
hood in the mass, his rod reached it, and it spouted 
up, at once, in sight of all beholders. He had not, 
in speaking, the advantage of a good voice ; nor was 
his manner graceful. He made no pretence to elo- 
quence, or ornament of speech, and he sneered at all 
appearance of feeling, or emotion, as affected, or out 
of place, in an advocate at the bar. But he seized, 
as with a giant's grasp, on the attention of both court 
and jury, and bore them forward, with irresistible 
force, to the conclusion of his argument. The hearer 
was not so much persuaded, as compelled to go along 
with him. The argument was one connected chain 
of clear statement and strong reasoning, — a chain in 
which there was no weak link, and which bound the 
premises, however remote, or apparently disconnected, 
with the desired conclusion, — a conclusion which the 
hearer felt, long before it was reached, that he could, 
by no possibility, avoid, or stop short of, or turn 
aside from. In all this there was no declamation, 
and no appeal to the passions. The only jDassion, 
indeed, which he ever seemed to feel, was that of 
contempt ; contempt for his opponent, his client, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 213 

his witnesses ; contempt, even, for the court and the 
jury which he was addressing ; a feeling which those 
who were its objects in vain strove to resist, and 
which was, in fact, one of the strong agencies by 
which he wrought them to his purpose. Speaking of 
the terrible power of his sarcasm, Mr. Webster said it 
was " not frothy or petulant, but cool and vitriolic." 
This latter epithet shows that he had himself felt at 
times its caustic severity. With Smith, both before 
he went upon the bench, and after he left it, Mason 
had frequent contests, degenerating sometimes into 
personalities more amusing to the spectators than 
agreeable to the parties concerned. There was, on 
these occasions, between them no child's play, no 
sparring with blunt foils ; but cut and thrust, with 
sharp steel, in sincere and earnest encounter. The 
New Hampshire bar, at this period, according to 
Chief Justice Parker, inculcated on its members 
" great fidelity to the interests of the client, rather 
than great courtesy towards the opj)Osing counsel." 
Yet no permanent ill-will, or personal rancor, was 
engendered by these ebullitions of professional zeal. 
Each knew the power of his antagonist, and admired, 
as kindred to his own, the vigor of the blow, even 
while reeling under it. Smith, in these struggles, 
showed, perhaps, more adroitness; Mason certainly 
more strength. At a later period, both of these came 
often in contact with the ready wit and acrid humor 



214 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of Ichabod Bartlett, who was one of the remarkable 
members of what was then a very remarkable bar. 

A greater man than even Mason, though not 
a greater lawyer, showed himself when Webster 
came to Portsmouth, in 1807, to take his share in 
these hardy contests. My father first tried the 
strength of the new combatant in a road case of 
some interest and notoriety ; and, though he felt and 
acknowledged his extraordinary power, he neither 
shrank from, nor lost credit in, the encounter. He 
won his case, and impressed on his opponent a high 
sense of his skill and resources, — an opinion Avhich, 
on all suitable occasions, Mr, Webster was ever after 
ready to express. My father considered the manner 
of the young advocate, on this occasion, as too excur- 
sive and declamatory; and predicted that his direction 
would be to politics rather than to law, — a judgment 
only partially verified by the event. For, though 
pre-eminent as a statesman, he was hardly less so as 
a lawyer ; giving, in this respect, a rare example of 
the highest distinction obtained by the same person 
in these two great departments of thought and action. 
I was once present when they were arguing against 
each other some question of evidence to the court^ 
and was much struck with the manner in which 
Webster commented on a passage read by my father 
from Peake's Law of Evidence. After criticizing it 
severely as bad law, he ended with pronouncing the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 215 

book itself a miserable two-penny compilation, throw- 
ing it with an air of contemptuous disdain on the 
table, and adding, " So much for Mr. Thomas Peake's 
Compendium of the Law of Evidence." The manner 
alone seemed sufficient to settle the point forever, 
and to place Thomas Peake henceforth below the 
notice of court or bar. My father made no answer 
whatever to his comments on the passage quoted, 
but quietly handed up to the Chief Justice a vol- 
ume of Burrow's Reports, open at the place where 
Lord Mansfield lays down the law in the very 
words used by Peake, and requested him to read 
it. When he had done so, Webster took the book, 
looked some time at it, and then laid the volume 
on the table, with no attempt to answer it. It 
was now evident that Peake, backed by Mansfield, 
stood once more rectus in curia. Mr. Webster's lan- 
guage, at this early period of his practice, was often 
austere and unceremonious, not to say rude and 
overbearing, not to the bar merely, but sometimes 
to the court; and this "abruptness of expression" 
was, according to Judge Parker, "rendered more 
marked by the volume of his voice," and, he might 
have added, by the glow of his cavernous eyes, and 
the curl of his scornful lip. At a later period, he 
was seldom deficient in the courtesy towards his 
opponent, and the deference to the court, which were 
due not less to his own character than to theirs. The 



216 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

first impression which Mr. Webster made on Mr. 
Mason, was thus related to me by the latter, many 
years after: "He broke upon me like a thunder- 
shower in July, sudden, portentous, sweeping all 
before it. It was the first ease in which he appeared 
at our bar ; a criminal prosecution, in which I had 
arranged a very pretty defence, as against the Attor- 
ney General, Atkinson, who was able enough in his 
way, but whom I knew very well how to take. 
Atkinson being absent, Webster conducted the case 
for him, and turned, in the most masterly man- 
ner, the line of my defences, carrying with him all 
but one of the jurors, so that I barely saved my 
client, at the last moment, by my best exertions. I 
was never more surprised than by this remarkable 
exhibition of unexpected power. It surpassed, in 
some respects, anything which I have ever since 
seen, even in him." My father did not remain long 
enough at the bar to witness much of Webster's 
subsequent career there. He had been long accus- 
tomed to the ready elocution and Milesian blood of 
Sullivan, the elaborate learning and quaint humor 
of Smith, and the proud superiority with which 
Mason maintained his sway over court and bar, jury- 
box and witness-stand. Into this arena of intellectual 
contest Webster brought his cold, unimpassioned 
power of close logic and unyielding argumentation ; 
his intuitive perception of the strong points of his 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 217 

case ; liis ready command of precise and perspicuous 
language ; his severe taste ; and, above all, when 
hard pressed and roused by opposition, that warmth 
of passion and fire of emotion, which, fusing the 
rugged metal of his harsher nature, poured the 
mingled mass of thought and feeling, hot and glow- 
ing from the furnace of an excited mind, into forms 
of beauty and structures of grandeur, admirable 
alike for graceful proportions and colossal strength. 

I have dwelt so long upon the keen encounters of 
these adverse, and sometimes angry wits, that the 
reader may perhaps conclude that these remarkable 
men were great only in what Lord Eldon calls " the 
war of tvords, the hattle of laivyerB' tongues^' on this 
theatre of forensic disputation. They were, however, 
all of them distinguished politicians as well as law- 
yers. In the more private relations of life they were 
equally remarkable. Smith, in his old age, even 
more, perhaps, than at an earlier period, was the 
delight of both j^oung and old, by the rare gift of his 
extraordinary conversational powers. While his good 
sense and his industry made him an able lawyer, 
there was high originality, true genius, in his humor. 
What gaiety, what waggery and exuberance of 
youthful spirits in this arch and facetious old man, so 
bent on sport, and indifferent to the decorous observ- 
ances of grave society ! What a rare vein of satire 
and piquant raillery, always sprightly and amusing, 



218 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

and, if not always harmless and inoffensive, yet 
wholly free from the venom of malignant misan- 
thropy! In his graver moods, Smith was equally 
interesting, with the stores of his learning, and his 
reminiscences of Washington, Hamilton, Madison, 
Marshall, Ames, and other great men with whom he 
had become acquainted while in Congress. Mason's 
conversation was of a different character. He had 
none of Smith's wit or humor, but a style of sarcasm 
peculiarly his own, growing out of the severely prac- 
tical turn of his mind, which scorned all affectation 
of feeling, and had little charity for that in others 
of which he had none himself Grave, suggestive, 
ftdl of original thought and curious information, he 
seemed equally familiar with history, government, 
morals, science, the concerns of common life, and the 
occupations and pursuits of men. He was fond of 
conversation, and wanted only a patient listener, 
who should §tir him occasionally with pertinent 
inquiries, to draw forth, for hours together, the rich 
treasures of his accumulated knowledge, and the yet 
richer resources of his curious and original thought. 
No man ever left him, after such an interview, with- 
out carrying with him facts to be remembered, and 
material for reflection, meditation and inquiry. Of 
Mr. Webster, it is enough to say that he was as 
attractive in conversation as powerful in debate. 
He, too, had with his j)i'ofound veins of original 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 219 

thouglit a rich fund of anecdote, and hoards of 
learning deposited in a memory which held every- 
thing it had ever grasped; and he was always as 
ready to communicate, as eager to acquire. The 
condescension of his manner, when disposed to 
unbend, was all the more delightful, as contrasted 
with his usual dignity of deportment, and gave to 
his smile a kindly welcome, and his few but expres- 
sive words of compliment and commendation a power 
of fascination which few could resist. 

It may well be doubted whether any other county 
bar in the Union could have matched the three or 
four remarkable men to whom I have thus briefly 
adverted — two of them, certainly, second to none of 
their times. Distinguished, however, as they were, 
the subject of this memoir played among them no 
subordinate part. Unequal in mere law learning to 
Smith, with less acuteness of metaphysical discrim- 
ination than Mason, and yielding, as all others have 
done, to the massive intellect of Webster, he was 
equal to either of them in his knowledge of human 
nature, in promptness of resource, in dexterous adapt- 
ation of means to ends, in clearness and precision of 
statement, in aptness of illustration, and in that ready 
command of popular eloquence, which, springing 
evidently from warmth of conviction, carried with 
it the sympathies of his hearers, and won for him 
the favor of the court, and the verdict of the jury. 



220 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

It was this verdict, which, in all his efforts, he kept 
steadily in view ; and when this came he felt that 
he had attained his object, which was not to make a 
great speech, or a learned argument, but to win his 
client's cause. It was his devotion, in every stage of 
the case, to the business in hand, his never deviating 
to any collateral issue, or stopping to scatter flowers 
of rhetoric, or indulging in flights of fancy or pomp 
of declamation, which brought him so frequently 
and so surely to the desired termination of his labors, 
and acquired for him the reputation of the most suc- 
cessful advocate of his time. " Clearness, force, and 
earnestness," says Mr. Webster, "are the qualities 
which produce conviction;" and these were the 
elements of success in this, as in other cases, — a 
perspicuous statement of facts, a severe style of close 
reasoning, and a force and earnestness of manner, 
springing, if not always from conviction of the just- 
ness of his cause, yet in all cases from a feeling 
that it was his duty to his client to put his full force 
into the cause he had undertaken to advocate. 

1 was a school-boy in the academy at Exeter dur- 
ing the latter part of his active practice at the bar, 
and had therefore an opportunity sometimes to hear 
him speak, I remember one case in particular, which, 
possessing some local interest, and being argued on a 
Wednesday afternoon, nearly all the academy boys 
attended. We were delighted with the arguments; 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 221 

and, on coming out, I found myself suddenly the 
object of more than usual attention, not at all on my 
own account, but as my father's son. During vaca- 
tion he sometimes took me with him when he had a 
ease before a justice, or before referees. One such 
case, which I attended at Hampton Falls, fur- 
nished me an example of the boldness and severity 
with which, fearless of consequences, he spoke, when 
occasion required it, of the conduct and character of 
men. In this case, he felt himself called upon to 
dispense his censures in no measured terms, holding 
up the conduct of the party to which he was opposed 
to the ridicule and the contempt of the referees, 
and of the numerous audience of his neighbors 
that filled the house. This he did with such force 
and heartiness, that he seemed to me to have made 
the man forever his personal enemy. When the 
hearing was over, he called for his horse, and we 
were already in the chaise, when the person so 
assailed was seen approaching us. He was a large, 
stout man, of no very inviting looks ; and, as he had 
shown by his gestures and exclamations, while under 
the lash, that he felt keenly the blows inflicted, my 
first thought was that he was coming with some pur- 
pose of personal violence, or, at least, of abusive 
language. As soon as my father saw him, he stopped, 
turned his horse towards him, and looked him steadily 



222 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in the eye. " Well, Squire," said he, after a moment's 
pause, " I have been a good deal in the law, but I 
was never so abused in my life before. It was too 
bad." " Not a whit, not a whit," was the ready reply. 
" You deserved it all, and more too." " Well, well," 
said the man, a little staggered at this fresh assault, 
" It was rather hard play, though, at any rate. But I 
like you all the better for it ; and what I want now 
is to engage you in a suit I have with another of my 
neighbors ; and whether I win or lose, I shall be con- 
tent, when the case comes to trial, if you will but put 
it on to him as you have on to me to-day." "Do not 
doubt it," said my father, laughing, "he shall have 
twice as much if he deserves it half as well." The 
man now laughed in his turn, and handing him a 
retaining fee, went off quite satisfied. " Now, here," 
said my father, as we rode away, "is a man who 
thinks all the better of me for the castigation I 
inflicted on him ; and is my friend for life, if I will 
but treat his neighbor as severely as I did him. Yet, 
after all, he is not half so bad as he appears to be. 
He is always in the law, and cannot content himself 
without a suit in court. A dozen such clients would 
make a lawyer's fortune. But he has many good 
qualities. No man would do another, even his oppo- 
nent, a kindness sooner than he would. If the law 
turns up some dark sides of human nature, it shows 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 223 

US also many bright ones. I have not, on the whole, 
learned to think the worse of mankind for what I 
have seen in courts of law." 

Other reminiscences of my own respecting his 
character as a lawyer, might be introduced ; but they 
would be of less value than the views of older men, 
who were with him at the bar. With many such I 
have conversed, and the remarks of some of them 
will be here given. Peyton R. Freeman, of Ports- 
mouth, told me " that he had often heard my father 
speak at the bar; that he had much business, and 
was remarkably successful with the jury. With the 
court, though not ostentatious of his law, he betrayed 
no want of the legal knowledge pertinent to his case. 
What he knew, he had no difficulty in making others 
understand." 

Another member of the bar, John Porter, of 
Derry, told me, not long since, that he remembered 
hearing my father once at the bar, soon after he was 
admitted to practice. It was in a case of much intri- 
cacy of detail in the facts, and some nicety in the 
law. But the facts were told with such clearness and 
animation, the law laid down so plainly, and there 
was so much precision, strength, and continuity of 
aim and execution in the whole, that he remembered 
nothing, he said, in his fifty years' practice, which 
had ever pleased him more. 

In a letter dated January 12, 1854, from Nicholas 



224 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Emery, a New Hampshire man by birth, late Judge 
of the Su]3reme Court of Maine, he writes : " Your 
father's style of speaking at the bar was very delib- 
erate, methodical, cogent, convincing and impressive. 
Whether, as a lawyer, he was much versed in black 
letter learning, which indeed was not then much in 
use, I cannot say. There was a minute correctness 
in his mode of doing business — nothing unnecessary, 
nothing deficient, nothing out of place. He was 
very successful Shrewd, sagacious, forelaying and 
calculating the effect of every move, he seldom 
missed, his aim. Of a high order of intellect, he 
understood human nature." 

"My first acquaintance with him," says Moody 
Kent, in a letter to me, dated March, 1853, "was in 
1805, when he was a member of the Senate, and 
sometimes came into the Common Pleas sitting at 
Exeter, in August. After his term of office expired, 
he attended that court, both at Exeter and Ports- 
mouth, and was engaged in the trial of cases. His 
appearance and manner were perfectly plain and 
simple, respectful to the court, gentlemanly in his 
demeanor to the senior members of the bar, and, 
more than others, affable and courteous to those of 
us who were his juniors. In his addresses to the 
court and jury he was fluent, plain, and always intel- 
ligible, never energetic in trifles, or earnest out of 
place. His speeches were full of good sense and to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 225 

the point. At our boarding-house he made himself, 
by his conversational powers, entirely pleasing to 
those of us who gathered around him to hear him 
talk. To gratify us, he would frequently talk of 
what passed in Congress, of the character and history 
of the most prominent members, of their sayings and 
"doings, and of their success or failure. Although he 
was so well listened to that he must have been aware 
that we thought he talked remarkably well, yet he 
was not an ambitious talker. If others chose to con- 
verse, he listened patiently and respectfully to all 
that was said, and never talked himself, except to 
willino; listeners." 

George Sullivan was established at Exeter as early 
as 1794, and continued in practice there till his death, 
in 1838. He said to me, in substance : "Your father's 
statement of facts to the jury was admirable, — clear, 
precise, and consistent; giving such prominence to 
the circumstances favorable to his client, and throw- 
ing so artfully those of an opposite character into the 
shade, that the opposing counsel sought in vain to 
make the jury see them in any other light. Another 
characteristic of his speeches was their brevity. Yet 
he found in them time for the facts, the law, and the 
morals of the case. For with the facts of the law 
he always mingled a high sense of moral obligation 
and responsibility ; dwelling strongly on the merits 
of the parties, and the duty of the jury to do justice, 

15 



226 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

exact and impartial, between them. It was a temple 
of justice, high and holy, wherein they stood, into 
which no feeling of favor or aversion, prejudice or 
partiality, should ever enter. From the plainest facts 
and the driest law, he rose insensibly into the higher 
region of social duty and moral obligation ; and 
thence, as naturally, into the yet more elevated do- 
main of the emotions. If he stirred these in others it 
was because he seemed himself moved. It was not (so 
it seemed) that he sought artfully to inflame others, 
but that he gave an utterance to what they already 
felt even more strongly than he could excite it. In 
all this there was no elaborate oratory or premed- 
itated eloquence. But brief, energetic, unexj^ected, 
these flashes of feeling came, because, ajoparently, 
they could not but come; and having done their 
ofiice, they passed as quickly away. There was no 
attempt to make the most of a bright thought or 
striking expression, as a reiteration of a blow which 
had already gone home to the mark. It was this 
simplicity and naturalness which gave the charm to 
his manner. If there was art in this, it was that 
perfection of art which conceals itself No idea of 
affectation or insincerity ever attached itself to any- 
thino; which he said or did." 

Judge Smith gave me something like the following 
account : " Your father made little display of mere 
legal learning ; and we sometimes suspected that he 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 227 

had not much of it to spare. But he had always 
enough for the occasion, and it would have been by 
no means safe in an opponent to presume upon his 
ignorance. Semper 'par negotiis, nee supra. He had 
the command of much more law than some others 
who had laid in larger stocks, but had less facility in 
its use. What he did know he knew thoroughly. 
Another trait was his promptness and self-possession. 
Of the many good things which occur to most men 
only when it is too late to utter them, he had very 
few. His good things were all on hand ; his knowl- 
edge ready for use, and always at his command. He 
said, at once, all he had to say, and said everything 
at the right time and place. He examined witnesses 
with great skill, and put his case in the best possible 
shape to the jury. He made no long harangues ; but 
his brevity was obtained, not by omitting matter per- 
tinent to his case, but by rejecting from it everything 
which was immaterial. Your friend Woodbury goes 
over what he has to say three or four times; your 
father knew how to leave off when he had done. 
He was fond of quoting Pope ; and what Swift says 
of Pope was true, in some sense, of him : 

« he can in one couplet fix 



More sense than I can do in six.* 



Not that we were either of us guilty of framing 
couplets or perpetrating rhymes. We left that to 



228 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Mitchell Sewall, who made epigrams and acrostics 
on us all. But he had, in rare perfection, the happy 
art of saying much in a few words. This talent of 
clear, concise and connected narrative, was best seen 
when he had a good cause to state ; but he told even 
a bad story so well, that scarcely any case seemed 
desperate under his management." 

Judo;e Arthur Livermore said to me: "Your father 
had as much law, when I came to the bar, as any man 
then in practice in Rockingham or Strafford. He had 
more than any other man, if Lord Coke's maxim be 
true, that the common law is common sense, or com- 
mon reason ; for he had more of that than any other 
man I ever heard address a court or jury. He 
seemed always right in his law, as if he could not 
be otherwise. Everything was so clear in his mind, 
and so well defined in the utterance, that he had no 
occasion to repeat, or to enlarge upon what he had 
once said. His manner was quiet, yet lively, with 
no pomp or swell of language ; respectful to the 
court and confiding towards the jury. He won their 
confidence by giving them his OAvn. He never seemed 
to think they could go wrong. They gave liira in 
turn more than he asked, as he often seemed to claim 
less than he was entitled to. This caution on his 
part, as if afraid of stating his case too strongly, was 
one of his arts of oratory. It Avon for him, by this 
modest diffidence, the good will of his hearers ; and 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 229 

when he assumed a positive tone, in relation to 
matters which were more doubtful, his previous 
moderation gave the greater weight to his present 
confidence ; and he carried the jury over the weak 
parts of his case with wonderful ease and dexterity. 
There was not much law in those days among us, as 
law is now understood, but cases were tried quicker, 
and, I think, quite as well. I lived at Chester then, 
and we were often opposed to each other, sometimes 
not without angry feelings. But they seldom out- 
lasted the day. We often slept in the same room, 
while at court ; and, after talking till almost morning, 
he would say, '■ Enough of this, Livermore, it is time 
to say your prayers, and go to sleep ; ' and he would 
be himself asleep before he had time to repeat a pater 
noster. He was sometimes treated rudely at the bar, 
as happens to all men occasionally, but his coolness 
gave him generally the advantage ; and when jDro- 
voked, which was not often, to indulge in angry 
reply, the retort was so rapid, and the repulse so 
manifest, that the assailant seldom came a second 
time to the charge." Judge Livermore, at this time, 
December, 1852, was in his eighty-seventh year, a 
remarkable old man, his memory still retentive, and 
his early liveliness of manner and vivacity of expres- 
sion but little impaired. 

Mr. Mason's account, given to me in more than one 
conversation on this subject, was somewhat after this 



230 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

manner: "Your father was not a thorough-bred 
lawyer, in the sense of having read everything writ- 
ten on the subject. But he understood thoroughly 
the great principles of the law, and had read care- 
fully, and digested well, the elementary treatises, the 
standard authorities, and the best of the old reporters. 
This was, I think, the extent of his law learning. He 
supplied the want of more minute subsidiary learning 
by an understanding at once clear and logical, which 
readily saw the consequences of an admitted princi- 
ple, and seldom failed to apply it justly; so that 
when others quoted authorities, it was but to support 
conclusions to which he had already arrived. I 
sometimes surprised him by a point of law which 
was evidently new to him ; but, if a little puzzled at 
first, he soon saw its bearings, what it was worth, and 
how it should be applied. It was surprising to see 
how readily the new law-matter thus furnished, fell 
into its true place in his mind, and became at once a 
part of his knowledge. This knowledge was not so 
much an accumulation of dead matter, as it was an 
organized body, compact, homogeneous, informed 
with life and motion. He was the best jury lawyer 
I ever knew. His relation of facts, which might 
be called his historic style, was inimitable ; plain, 
accurate, and direct; free alike from coldness and 
unnecessary warmth; adding nothing unimportant, 
and omitting nothing material to the case. He made 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 231 

no pompous enunciation of self-evident truths, and 
was at no j^ains to prove what he knew the jury 
would take for granted without proof He seemed 
sometimes to admit even more than his opponent 
could prove. This apparent candor told largely with 
the jury in his favor; and the admission generally 
turned out, before the close of the trial, to be either 
something which he could not well deny, or wdiich, 
though apparently aiding the 0]3posite party, made 
in fact, when rightly considered, in his favor. His 
line of defence exposed the least possible front to an 
opponent; and he was as prompt to seize on an 
indiscretion in others, as careful to avoid one himself 
With others at the bar I felt," added Mr. Mason, 
" pretty much at my ease ; but your father and Judge 
Smith compelled me to be more on my guard. Web- 
ster had not then come among us. Smith had the 
greater learning ; your father the more availing use 
of what he knew. The point in which they most 
resembled each other, w^as the industry with which 
they prepared their cases. Your father was always 
ready for trial ; or, if he asked for delay, it was 
because some material witness was unavoidably 
absent, or some paper missing which he had in vain 
sought to obtain ; never because he was not himself 
master of his case." 

With Mr. Webster I had several conversations on 
this subject; the last at Franklin, where I went to 



232 LIFE OF AYILLIAM PLUMER. 

see liim, July 16, 1852, a few months before his 
death. On that occasion he said: "I first heard 
yonr father named when I was quite a boy, in 1794 
or '5. A cousin of my father's was taken as a de- 
serter, by order of Major Jonathan Cass, the father 
of Lewis Cass, and carried a prisoner to Exeter, 
where Cass then resided. The charge was a Mse 
one, and my father hastened to the rehef of his 
kinsman. On reaching Nottingham, he called on his 
friend. Gen. Joseph Cilley, and telling him his story, 
said that he was going to Oliver Peabody, of Exeter, 
for a writ against Cass. . ' Not so,' said Cilley, ' if you 
go to Peabody, his dog will run over to Cass's dog and 
tell him what you are doing, and your cousin may 
be hurried over the line into Massachusetts before 
your writ is served. Go to Mr. Plumer, at Epping, 
and he will do your business for you with no risk of 
failure.' My father told us this story when he came 
back with his cousin ; and this was the first time I 
ever heard of the name of Plumer. What most 
excited my curiosity, however, and puzzled me at the 
time, was to know how the dogs could talk over their 
masters' business together, and what they had to do 
with it. I had not then read Burns's Tale of the Two 
Dogs, nor do I suppose that Cilley, who was not a book- 
ish man, had seen it Avlien he gave this quaint turn 
to his shrewd suggestion as to the probable concert 
between Cass and Peabody, in the case of the sup- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 233 

posed deserter. I first saw your father in 1801, at 
Judge Peabody's, in Exeter, where he took the lead 
in a table conversation upon the subject of 'Gibbon's 
Roman Empire,' which he greatly admired, yet with 
a due mixture of fault-findins;. I remember his also 
speaking of the Edinburgh Review, and of Mr. Jeffries, 
both just then becoming conspicuous. Your father 
was sujoposed to be good at taxing bills of cost. In a 
case where he and Mason, both on the same side, had 
at last won a long contested suit, the bill, taxed by 
your father, and allowed by the clerk, was objected 
to by the opposing counsel. Mason, who had a law- 
yer's liking for fees — I do not dislike them myself 
— stoutly defended the taxing ; and, when the court 
struck out some of the items, he lost his temper, and 
abused them roundly for it. Your father, seeing that 
this was no way to secure the bill, Avhispered to 
Mason to keep cool, and said aloud, 'Perhaps I can 
explain this better.' Addressing himself to the court, 
he put them at once into good humor by some slight 
reflection on his brother Mason's loss of temper, and 
not only succeeded in preventing any further abate- 
ment of the bill of costs, but restored the items 
already stricken out, and even got in one or two 
new ones. This, though a small matter, was not a 
bad sample of his usual coolness, sagacity, and power 
of setting whatever he took in hand in the clearest 
possible light. The same qualities were shown by 



234 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

him on more important occasions. In the manage- 
ment of his cases before the jury he displayed great 
skill, in other words, great knowledge of human 
nature. Indeed, I never knew a man who put his 
case better, or who was more uniformly successful, 
where there was any tolerable chance for success. 
There was a concentration of purpose in him which 
contributed greatly to this result. lie never sacri- 
ficed the safety of his client to oratorical display; 
nor indulged his resentments at the expense of his 
cause, nor turned indeed for a moment from the 
great object in view, the winning of his' verdict from 
the jury. He put no questions to witnesses which 
were not calculated to bring out a favorable answer, 
and used no argument which was not at once seen to 
bear directly on the point to be established. Neglect- 
ing all minor objects, he struck boldly at the heart 
of the matter; told his story without repetition, or 
exaggeration, and so clearly, that nobody could mis- 
take or misunderstand him. Once stated, indeed, 
his case was already, by the mere statement, well 
argued. When the occasion required it, he could 
touch powerfully the chords of feeling in the breasts 
of the jury, with the slightest apparent effort on his 
own part, — sometimes with the thrilling intonation 
of a single word, a look, a gesture, the cast of his eye, 
suffused with tears at the misfortunes of liis clients, 
or fired with anger or indignation at the injustice. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 235 

tlie tyranny, the insufferable baseness of his oppo- 
nent and oppressor. It was the eloquence of feeling, 
rather than of the fancy or imagination; — of the 
latter, except as connected with feeling, he did not 
seem to me to possess much. " 

Wit is often among the lawyer's most successful 
weapons. My fother could hardly be said, in the 
ordinary sense of the word, to be a man of wit. Yet 
he said things which no wit could improve, and no 
humor render more effective. In those keen retorts, 
those pithy and pointed sentences, which strifce home 
and admit of no reply, which rouse the feelings while 
they convince the understanding, he was always 
ready. On such occasions the flash of his eye showed 
whence the lightning had parted, and the smile, 
which curled his lip, evinced his perception that the 
bolt had not missed its aim. If, in such cases, the wit 
was less observed, the argument was the more strongly 
felt. The power thus to condense a long speech into 
a brief sentence, — to coil up, as it were, a whole argu- 
ment into a single word, and send that word home to 
its mark, where it shall explode in a charge from the 
court, or a verdict from the jury, — is the rare attri- 
bute of the eloquent and effective speaker. This 
felicity of speech and concentration of thought, were 
at the farthest possible remove from that vague and 
indefinite utterance, that copious effusion of words 
without ideas, with which so many public speakers 



236 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

seem afflicted. It rested, in his case, on the firm 
basis of accurate knowledge, and thorough previous 
preparation. He did not think it sufficient to have a 
general idea of his cause, and trust to chance, or a 
happy flight of oratory to carry him through ; but he 
made himself master of its details, and familiar with 
the law applicable to it. This he did in cases even 
the least imjDortant. If they were worth carrying 
into court, he thought them worth the best attention 
he could bestow upon them. 

The practice of the law in his earlier days was cal- 
culated to make able advocates, rather than learned 
jurists. Both court and jury were, as I have already 
remarked, more inclined to make than to find the 
law of the case. My father was among the first to 
perceive the necessity of a closer adherence to 
established rules. He left the courts, however, 
while the change was as yet but imperfectly accom- 
plished. But a revolution w\as in progress, which 
ended in establishing more precise maxims of 
practice and strict principles of law in New Hamp- 
shire, than prevailed, perhaps, in any state of the 
Union. Mr. Webster, after having practised in the 
courts of many states, said, "that he had never 
found any place where the law was administered 
with so much precision and exactness as in the 
County of Rockingham." "Special pleading had not 
then," says Chief Justice Parker, in commenting 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER A67 

on this remark, "been shorn of its honors, by brief 
statements and informal answers." At one time, 
indeed, there was a strictness of practice here, hardly 
comj)atible with the ends of justice; but the ten- 
dency has since been to that happy medium in 
which fixed rule takes the place of arbitrary dis- 
cretion, while justice, though regular, is yet not 
tangled in the net of form. 

Of the extent of my father's business while at the 
bar, and the consequent amount of his emoluments, 
it is not easy now to form an accurate estimate. His 
account-books of this period were destroyed by him 
many years ago, with a multitude of other papers, 
which he considered it no longer necessary to pre- 
serve. In the counties of Rockingham and Strafford, 
then embracing the business of more than half the 
state, he was for many years concerned in more suits 
than any other lawyer. But lawyers' fees w^ere then 
much lower than at present. Even now they are not 
considered by the profession as high, and certainly 
are not so, when compared with those in some other 
states. Webster, after his removal to Boston, received 
in single cases, probably, more than his net income 
for a year of labor in New Hampshire. Mason once 
said to me : " The Boston people pay well for pro- 
fessional services. It is not a bad trait in their 
character, and I rather encourage them in it. Your 
father and I did business enough in our day to make 



238 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

US rich ; but, in New Hampshire, much is done for a 
little money. No man gets rich there by professional 
services." My father, though he owned a half-finished 
house and some land, was in debt when he was admit- 
ted to the bar. He told Judge Livermore, in 1797, 
that his business was then worth four thousand dol- 
lars a year. To have earned this, Livermore supposed 
he could not have made less than five hundred writs 
annually. The courts sat four times a year, and he 
once told me that he had entered a hundred actions 
at a term. He was not indifferent to money -, for he 
knew that no man could be truly independent with- 
out it, and that without independence there is little 
security for happiness, and not much for virtue. Yet 
he had so little of the miser in his disposition, that, 
for the last forty years of his life, he did nothing in 
the way of money-making. He took care of what 
he had already earned, but felt no desire to increase 
it, — so that at his death his property was no greater 
than when he left the bar. His habits of living were 
prudent, but not parsimonious; free from profusion 
on the one hand, and meanness on the other. There 
was no ostentatious display of wealth in person, 
equipage, or attendance ; but use, comfort and con- 
venience were consulted in his arrangements; and 
the friend, or the stranger, who visited him, found a 
ready hospitality, a simj)licity, an abundance, and a 
cordiality of welcome, which supplied every want, 
and left no doubt of the host's sincerity. 



Z5 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE SENATOR. 



The civil revolution, which gave the power of the 
general government to the Republican party, was 
consummated by the inauguration of Thomas Jeffer- 
son as President, and Aaron Burr as Vice President, 
on the 4th of March, 1801. The leading measures 
of the Federal party, — the funding system, the bank, 
the proclamation of neutrality, Jay's treaty, the inter- 
nal taxes, the army, the navy, the alien and sedition 
laws, — had all of them been more or less unpopular. 
The strong personal popularity of Washington alone 
secured to the measures of his administration a major- 
ity in either House of Congress. While nearly all 
professed unbounded admiration for the person of the 
President, a strong and increasing opposition mani- 
fested itself to his leading measures ; many of which 
were carried by small majorities, often by the casting 
vote of the Vice President in the Senate, and in the 
House, on several occasions, on nearly as close a 
division. On the retirement of Washington, the great 
abilities, high public spirit, and patriotic services of 
his successor were unequal to the task of opposing 



240 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

successfully the current of public opin^'on, setting 
strongly in favor of the doctrines cr 1 the policy, the 
men und the measures, of the Republican party. The 
inaugural address of Mr. Jefferson was, indeed, so 
moderate in its tone, and so well received by all 
parties, that the whole Senate went in a body, har- 
monious, in appearance at least, to pay^ their respects 
to the President and Vice President, and were re- 
ceived, says Mr. Bayard, " with very decent respect," 
the Federalists professing their willingness to support 
the government, if administered upon the principles 
of that address. But though Mr. Jefferson had said 
in his address, " We are all Republicans, we are all 
Federalists," it was not possible that parties so hostile 
in feeling, and so adverse in opinion and practice, 
could act harmoniously together. Both were too 
earnest and sincere, the one to withhold the expres- 
sion of their opinions, the other to forego the exer- 
cise of their power in the line of their opinions. 

The first session of Congress, under the new rule, 
had been signalized by some reduction of the army 
and the navy, the repeal of the internal taxes, an 
increased provision for the public debt, a return to 
the naturalization law of 1795, and the repeal of the 
late judiciary act. This last w-iss regarded as the 
great measure of the session, involving questions of 
constitutional power, as well as of expediency. These, 
with the removal of some Federalists from office, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 241 

the appomtment of Repttblicans in their places, were 
the chief changes ■^jhich had jet followed the election 
of the : ew President. A second session was now 
about to commence. 

'/The journey from New Hampshire to "Washington 
was not usually performed, at this time, in less than 
ten or twelve days.) In the feeble state of my father's 
health, this journey excited in his mind apprehen- 
sions, which we should hardly have expected in one 
of his resolute temper and active habits. For fifteen 
years he had been nearly half his time away from 
home ; but never for more than a week or two at a 
time ; and seldom so far off, but that he could return 
in a single day. A service of three or four months, 
five hundred miles from home, put his local attach- 
ments and domestic feelings to a severe test. My 
mother, who was still more domestic in her habits, 
would have thought the leaving of five children to 
the care of strangers for so long a period, little less 
than a crime. " On leaving my family," he says, "and 
parting with my oldest son, then at Exeter, I was 
much affected. The length of the journey, the uncer- 
tainty how the climate and mode of living would 
agree with me, and what changes might happen in 
my family, produced feelings I never before experi- 
enced." He left Epping on the 18th of November, 
and reached Washington on the second of the follow- 
ing month. In a letter to Judge Smith, (December 
9th, 1802,) he says, 

16 



242 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

k " I arrived here last Friday, much less fatigued than I 
expected. The journey was easy, and gave me the pleasure 
that results from eating with the appetite of a hungry man— 
a pleasure to which till then I was a stranger. The next day 
after my arrival I visited the President, accompanied by some 
Democratic members. In a few moments after our arrival, a 
tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed, 
or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old 
corduroy small clothes much soiled, woollen hose, and slip- 
pers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General 
Varnum surprised me by announcing that it was the President. 
I tarried with him about twenty minutes. He was easy of 
access, and conversed with great ease and freedom. While I 
was there, Thomas Paine entered, seated himself by the side 
of the President, and conversed and behaved towards him 
with the familiarity of an intimate and an equal ! Can virtue 
receive sufficient protection from an administration which 
admits such men as Paine to terms of intimacy with its 
chief?'^ 

This intimacy of Jefferson with Paine seems to 
have struck him very unfavorably. He adverts to it 
in several of his letters. To T. W. Thompson, he 
speaks of him as, "that outrageous blasphemer." f To 
D. Lawrence, he writes, (December 27th,) "The 
President, in his message, informs us of our quiet 
enjoyment of our religion ; at the same time that he 
has had the effrontery to invite that infamous blas- 
phemer, Thomas Paine, from France to this country, 
and even to give him a passage in a national vessel. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 243 

He admits him freely and frequently to his house 
and his table.^^o Jeremiah Mason, he wrote, "Brad- 
ley (as Vice President j*:^^ tern.,) is giving dimiers; 
and in imitation of the President, admits that mis- 
creant Paine to his table. Neither Jefferson nor 
Bradley invites Federalists to dine with Paine. In 
this they show their prudence.y fPaine's merits, in 
the eyes of his admirers, were supposed to be two- 
fold; his attacks on Christianity, and his abuse of 
Washington^ My father, admitting the force of some 
of Paine's objections, had read his "Age of Reason" 
with unqualified disapprobation of its tone and 
temper, its coarse vulgarity, and its unfair appeals 
to the passions .and the prejudices of his readers. 
With his attacks on "Mr. Washington," he had, if 
possible, less sympathy. Hence the surprise and 
indignation with which he saw such a man courted 
by the President, and received with distinction as a 
guest at the presidential mansion. It deepened his 
prejudices against Mr. Jefferson, already sufficiently 
strong. Bred a Federalist, in the school of Wash- 
ington, he had been taught to regard Mr. Jefferson 
as a man of loose morals and erroneous political 
opinions, and looked with great distrust on the 
measures and policy of his administration. 

He took his seat in the Senate on the first day of 
the session, (December 2d, 1802,) but was not able 
to take the affirmation of office, till the 14th, when 



244 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the two Houses were organized, Congress not having 
then acquired that habit of punctuality, which now 
always secures a quorum of both Houses the first 
day of the session. The leading Republicans in the 
Senate were Clinton of New York, Nicholas of Vir- 
ginia, Baldwin of Georgia, and Breckenridge of 
Kentucky; the leading Federalists, Tracy and Hill- 
house of Connecticut, Morris of New York, and Ross 
of Pennsylvania. The administration had a decided 
majority in both houses, and was able therefore to 
carry any measure on which its friends were united. 
The strength of the executive department was chiefly 
in three men, — Jefferson, the President, Madison, the 
Secretary of State, and Gallatin, Secretary of the 
Treasury, — a combination of talent, power, and popu- 
larity, not often surpassed in the administration of 
the government. 

The slow progress of business through the Senate 
left my father much leisure, which, with his usual 
industry, he employed in making himself acquainted 
with the new scenes into which he was introduced, 
and the distinguished actors on this more extended 
theatre. He began with exploring the city itself and 
its environs. Washington was then " a little village 
in the midst of the woods." " It contains," he said, 
" many fine sites for buildings, but comparatively few 
houses, and those not compact." This city of magni- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 245 

ficent distances was indeed then little better than a 
wilderness ; with few of the conveniences, and hardly 
all the necessaries of civilized and refined life. He 
explored with greater eagerness the congressional 
library ; which, though not large, contained many 
valuable works in history, politics and international 
law, to which he had not before had access. He de- 
voted much time, during this and the succeeding 
sessions, to the reading of books which he found here, 
making copious extracts, and, in some cases, abstracts 
of their contents. (He did not however neglect, for 
books, the acquaintance of men. The violence of 
party spirit made the members, at this time, unsocial, 
and even uncivil to one another. Federalists and Re- 
publicans not only boarded in different houses, but 
seldom visited or associated togethery "Men," said 
Jefferson, speaking of an earlier period, " who have 
been intimate all their lives, cross the street to avoid 
meeting, and turn their heads another way, lest they 
should be obliged to touch their hats." He had not 
himself been able to introduce a better state of feel- 
ing. This social intolerance was very distasteful to 
my father. ^ In a letter to my mother, (Dec. 25th,) 
he says : 

"Yesterday, T dined with the President. His rule is to 
have about ten members of Congress at a time. We sat down 
to the table at four, rose at six, and walked immediately into 



246 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

another room, and drank coffee. We had a very good dinner, 
with a profusion of fruits and sweetmeats. The wine was the 
best I ever drank, particularly the champagne, which was 
y indeed delicious. I wish his French politics were as good as 
his French wines ; but to me, at least, they have by no means 
so exquisite a flavor. At these dinners, the President -has 
always a select company ; all federalists one day, all demo- 
crats another. He ought to invite them without regard to 
their political sentiments. The members of both parties, 
meeting at the President's, would be under the necessity of 
being civil to each other there, and would thence learn to treat 
each other with more decency and respect in congress than 
they now do. The more men of good hearts associate, the 
better they think of each other, notwithstanding their differ- 
ences of opinion."! 

■ Having himself little of the party rancor, out of 
which such alienation had grown, he labored to break 
through these unsocial barriers. Before the close of 

o 

the session, he was upon speaking terms with nearly 
all the members of both houses, and intimate with 
many of the most distinguished of both parties. His 
mind could not fail to be improved, and his views 
modified and enlarged by this enlargement of his 
sphere of vision and range of thought. He was a 
Federalist, with a full share of party feeling. But he 
was not a mere party man ; and would not follow 
blindly any party leader. In the case of private 
claims, " I am not sensible," he writes, " that party 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 247 

considerations had any influence on my mind. On 
these I voted as often with the Repubhcans as with 
the FederaUsts." He acted indeed in this, as in other 
cases, under a sense of moral obhgation. 

He wrote many poUtical letters, during this session, 
to his friends in New Hampshire, with too close 
a party reference and purpose, as he afterwards 
thought. " Being in the minority, I was," he says, 
" too much inclined to find fault with the measures 
of the majority, and thought the principal service I 
could render my country was to prevent the adoption 
of their measures." Extracts from some of these 
letters may be interesting, either for the facts they 
contain, or the opinions they expresss. 
(jlo D. Lawrence of Epj)ing, December 27, 1802 : 

*' The southern Democrats fear New England Federalism. 
Though our numbers are small, we are both feared and 
respected. We can seldom carry any measure; but we pre- 
vent the ruling party from doing much mischief. I consider 
the steady habits and Federalism of the Eastern states as the 
sheet anchor and political salvation of the nation.'' 



To T. W. Thompson of Salisbury, January, 1803 : 

" Though few, we are a check upon the ruling party. The 
longer I am here, the more sensibly I feel the necessity of 
preserving, if possible, the Federalism of New England, as a 
restraint upon Southern Democracy. The good sense and 
steady habits of the Eastern states will be the means of pre- 



248 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER 

serving our liberties, if they are to survive the violence of 
parties." 

He wrote, during this session, frequently to 
Thompson ; and Daniel Webster, who was then a 
student in his office, told me, many years after, how 
eagerly he himself awaited the arival, once a week, 
of the post, in hope of a letter from Washington, and, 
when it came, how earnest the little knot of village 
politicians were to learn its contents. Thompson was 
afterwards himself Senator in Congress. 

( To, Nicholas Emery of Parsonsfield, afterwards 
Judge of the Supreme Court of Maine, January, 
1803 : 

" The Democratic party want an acknowledged, bold and 
determined leader in the House. Giles is sick at home. John 
Randolph, a pale, meagre, ghostly man, has more popular and 
effective talents than any other member of the party ; but 
Smith, Nicholson, Davis and others are unwilling to acknowl- 
edge him as their file-leader. The Federalists, though in a 
minority, are yet in talents, industry, and respectability, supe- 
rior to theu' opponents. I think the session will end without 
violent measures." i 



(To Mr. Mason, under the same date 



** Griswold of Connecticut, is at the head of the Federalists 
in the House. He is a man of talents, industry, and applica- 
tion, and of a most amiable disposition. Bayard has not yet 
arrived. The Democrats feel the absence of Giles. Eandolph 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 249 

has more talent than any other man of that party ; but they 
are unwilling to own a leader, who has the appearance of a 
beardless boy more than of a full grown man. The session is 
wasting away, and, though we have done no good, we have 
not committed much evil. The little Burr has not yet 
appeared." ^ 

To John Taylor Gilman, January IStli, 1803 : 



*' The President has nominated James Munroe, Envoy Ex- 
traordinary to the Courts of Paris and Madrid, to treat, in 
conjunction with our ministers there, upon the navigation of 
the Mississippi, and the purchase of Louisiana. To this 
appointment there was a serious but unavailing opposition in 
the Senate. The vote was fifteen to twelve.) The Senate do 
not decide whether the mission is necessary. The President 
alone is considered responsible for that. They decide only 
on the qualifications of the man, not on the propriety of the 
measure. = Yet the man whom AVashington, after a full trial, 
thought it necessary to recall from France, is again appointed 
to the same court, a court which holds in contempt the 
Jacobins to whom he was then so much attached. But the 
measures of Washington are to be reviled, his admirers 
wounded, and a new order of things established. The more 
I see and know of these men, the more I am confirmed in the 
opinion that the Federalists are the real friends of their 
country, and their measures the best calculated so secure its 
peace and prosperityt" ) 

The most important subject which came before 
Congress this session, was the refusal of the right of 



250 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

deposit at New Orleans, by the Spanish authorities 
there. By the treaty of 1795, with Spain, it was 
stipulated that the United States should be allowed 
" to deposit their merchandise and effects in the port 
of New Orleans, and export them thence, without any 
other duty than a fair price for the hire of stores." 
The Spanish Intendant had issued a proclamation 
(October 16, 1802,) taking away the right till then 
possessed, and assigning no other place of deposit on 
the river. The uneasiness produced by this measure 
among the people west of the mountains, who, from a 
few inconsiderable settlements, had increased to half a 
million of inhabitants, was great and universal ; and 
it was evident that some remedy for the wrong sus- 
tained must at once be supplied. The remedy pro- 
posed by the Federalists was to seize at once on New 
Orleans, by force of arms, before it should be taken 
possession of by France, to whom the country had 
just before been ceded by Spain. "France," said 
Morris, " will not sell this territory. If we want it, 
we must adopt the Spartan policy, and obtain it by 
steel, not by gold." The President, on the contrary, 
was in favor of the more pacific policy of negotiation, 
and purchase of territory. The House passed resolu- 
tions expressing their determination to maintain the 
rights secured by the treaty, and referring the whole 
subject to the action of the President. In the Senate, 
Ross of Pennsylvania offered resolutions (February 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 251 

10, 1803,) authorizing the President to take posses- 
sion of New Orleans, and for that purpose to call 
out, if necessary, fifty thousand of the militia cf the 
adjoining states ; to pay the expenses of which, he 
proposed that five millions should be appropriated. 
As a substitute for these, Breckenridge of Kentucky 
moved resolutions, February 23d, referring the sub- 
ject to the President, with authority to call on the 
Governors of the states for eighty thousand volun- 
teers, to be held in readiness to march at the order of 
the President. After an animated debate, Ross's 
resolutions were stricken out, by a strictly party 
vote, and those of Breckenridge were then unani- 
mously adopted. A law was soon after passed to 
carry them into effect. By another law, passed in 
secret session, two millions were appropriated for the 
extraordinary expenses of the foreign intercourse, 
with a view to the purchase of the island of New 
Orleans and West Florida. 

The following extracts of letters show my 
father's views on this subject./ To Jeremiah Smith, 
January 9th: 

" On the 4tli of December, the President stated to me per- 
sonally the fact of the violation of our treaty with Spain, but 
in his annual message of the 15th to Congress, he takes no 
notice of it. The truth, if exhibited in this case, would have 
disfigured the beauty of his picture of peace and prosperity, 



252 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 

and presented some things to excite our fears as well as onr 
liopes. Congress ought to publish a declaration that Spain 
has violated her plighted faith ; to authorize the President to 
raise a provisional army, and to man and equip our little 
navy ; and, in case negotiation should not succeed, to take 
possession of New Orleans. Indeed, I think we should be 
justified in immediately seizing on that city.; But the ruling 
party are alarmed, and have not resolution to act. They fear 
the approaching election. Randolph said the other day in 
the House, ' The Federalists wish to drive us into a war, to 
dissipate our treasures, and obtain for themselves the direction 
of the government.' This declaration is strong proof of the 
fears of the administration. They fear that bold and decisive 
measures will produce war, and that taxes, increased duties, 
and new loans will follow. How contemptible and wretched 
is the man, who, at the expense of honor and conscience, 
obtains an office, and cannot then pursue his own course, but 
must adopt such measures as will please the unthinking pop- 
ulace ! From such a disposition, and from an office thus 
obtained. Good Lord deliver me ! " 

To the same, February 16 : 

*' Mr. Ross introduced his resolutions to the Senate in a 
speech of nearly two hours, far exceeding anytliing I ever 
witnessed in a deliberate assembly, not abounding in tropes 
and figures, and the flowers of rhetoric, such as flow with so 
much ease and grace from the lips of Governeur Morris, but a 
continued chain of reasoning, forcibly addressing itself both to 
the heart and the understanding." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 253 

I (to T. W. Thompson, February 18tli: 



" You have seen an account of the weak and feeble meas- 
ures that the admmistration have adopted, respecting the 
violation of the Spanish treaty. The Federalists were for 
talcing immediate possession of New Orleans, and using it, as 
our treaty provides, for a place of deposit^ Enclosed are Mr. 
Ross's resolutions. His introductory speech was one of the 
ablest I ever heard. I have reason to believe that the admin- 
istration is divided upon this subject. From the chief, a man 
of weak nerves, we have no right to expect energetic action, 
"Wavering, indecisive, half-way measures will probably be the 
result. The measures debated and adopted in conclave would, 
if known, alarm considerate, reflecting Democrats. A Com- 
mittee of the House has this day reported that Judge Pick- 
ering, of New Hampshire, be impeached of high crimes and 
misdemeanors in ofiice. In conversation with the President, 
this day, he said to me : ' It will take two years to try this 
impeachment. The Constitution ought to be altered, so that 
the President should be authorized to remove a Judge from 
office, on the address of the two Houses of Congress.' " 

(Speaking at a later period on this subject of the 
right of deposit at New Orleans, my father wrote : 
" After hearing the arguments on both sides, and con- 
sidering the subject, I had some doubts of the pro- 
priety of adopting Ross's resolutions ; but my pride 
was enlisted in their support ; for I had early written 
to some of my correspondents that I was in favor of 



254 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

them. Party considerations had also an influence on 
my mind ; and I reluctantly voted against striking 
them out." This was the first very important matter, 
during the session, in which a strong party feeling 
manifested itself in the Senate, and though on the 
main question he had hardly independence enough 
to break at once from his party, and from his own 
previous declarations, he showed, on an incidental 
question, that he could act, as well as think, inde- 
pendently of party dictation. After two or three 
days spent in debate, the Federal Senators had 
agreed, at eight o'clock in the evening, not to vote 
for an adjournment till the question was taken. 
Mason of Virginia, stating that he wished to speak, 
but from ill health could not do it, at that late hour, 
moved an adjournment. 

" I thought," wrote my father, '- the request reasonable, 
and voted for it. Governeur Morris was offended, and 
privately censured me for my vote. I told him I had acted 
towards Mason as I should have wished him to act towards 
me ; and that, on so important a subject, I was willing to 
spend another day. He replied : ' When a man has resolved 
to act only according to the convictions of his own mind, the 
party to which he belongs can never depend upon his sup- 
port ; and I shall not be surprised, if, in a few years, you act 
more like a Republican than a Federalist.' I replied, that I 
could not say what I might hereafter become ; but I trusted 
I should never act contrary to my own judgment, to support 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 255 

either party. He said, ' No man can maintain in political 
life such an independent course,' I replied, ' I shall fail 
then as a public man, and return again to private life.' " ) 

Federal in his opinions, he acted generally with 
his party; but, independent in his judgments, he 
allowed no one to think for him, where it was his 
duty to think and act for himself. Time showed that 
the President's plan of securing New Orleans by 
purchase was safer than the Federal one of seizing it 
by force. Yet there was great weight in the idea- 
that, if it passed into the hands of Napoleon, it could 
be obtained from him only at the expense of a war 
with France. Its possession by either France or 
England would have seriously endangered the secu- 
rity and essential interests of the United States. The 
President was keenly sensible to the danger from 
this quarter ; as his views of policy required, above 
all else, a good understanding with France. "There 
is," said he, " one spot on the globe, the possessor of 
which is our natural and habitual enemy. That spot 
is New Orleans. France, placing herself in that door, 
assumes to us the attitude of defiance." On my 
father's presenting to him (February 26th), as Chair- 
man of the Committee on Enrolled Bills, the act 
intended to authorize the purchase of New Orleans, 
he said: "A great point is now gamed; a new pre- 
cedent established in our government — the passage 



256 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of an important law by Congress, in secret session. 
They ought to have passed, some years since, the law 
respecting Algiers in the same manner." 

Two or three other extracts will bring us to the 
close of this session. He wrote often to his wife and 
children ; and I had myself many letters from him 
during the session( February 22d, he says, in a letter 
to me : — 

" The members of the House sit with their hats on, but 
take them off when they speak. It has rather an odd appear- 
ance to see the House covered, and the Senators, and Heads 
of Departments, who frequently go in to hear the debates, 
with their hats in their hands. Mr. Randolph goes to the 
House booted and spurred, with his whip in his hand, in 
imitation, it is said, of meinbers of the British Parliament. 
He is a very slight man, but of the common stature. At a 
little distance he does not appear older than you are ; but 
upon a nearer approach you perceive his wrinkles and grey 
hairs. He is, I believe, about thirty. He is a descendant in 
the right line from the celebrated Indian princess, Pocahontas. 
The Federalists ridicule and affect to despise him ; but a 
despised foe often proves a dangerous enemy. His talents 
are certainly far above mediocrity. As a popular speaker, he 
is not inferior to any man in the House. I admire his inge- 
nuity and address ; but I dislike his politics.") 

( To Judge Smith, February 23d : 

" Burr presides in the Senate with great ease and dignity. 
He always understands the subject before the Senate ; states 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 257 

the question clearty, and confines the speakers to the point. 
He despises the littleness and meanness of the administration ; 
but does not distinctly oppose them, or aid us. It is his 
object to detach from the two parties enough to constitute a 
majority in his favor. He frequently touches a subject in 
conversation with the skill of a master. But, with all his 
cunning, he will find it a difficult task to inspire confidence 
or esteem. His arts have alarmed the fears and awakened the 
jealousies of the President. 



February 26tli 



C 



The dark complexion, and something in his look and 
manner, gives one the impression that Mr. Hillhouse of Con- 
necticut has Indian blood in his veins. He and Wright of 
Maryland have frequent collisions. The latter said to-day : ' I 
would not repine at being stricken down by the thunder-bolts 
of Jove (looking towards Morris), but I will not submit 
tamely to be mangled by the tomahawk of this son of Alno- 
mac,' pointing to Hillhouse. The latter, by a sudden motion, 
seemed as if springing on his foe, who dropped as suddenly 
into his seat, amidst the suppressed laughter of the Senate, 
to which the straight, up-drawn gravity and assumed uncon- 
sciousness of the Connecticut Senator gave full effect." ] 

v^Hilllioiise had acquired at home the title of the 
Sachem ; and his son has since, with great good 
taste, given to his beautiful paternal seat, in New 
Haven, the name of the Sachem's Wood — a name 
referring at once to his father, and to the tradition of 

17 



258 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

an early Indian residence on the spot consecrated to 
fame by his own gifted pen. ) 
March 3d : -^ 

" A severe indisposition would have exciised me from the 
Senate this day ; but pride and a sense of duty induced me to 
attend. The House had passed the bill to reduce the marine 
corps ; and to-day was assigned for its third reading in the 
Senate. More than one of my Democratic friends took occa- 
sion to inform me that the weather was peculiarly unpleasant, 
and that my chamber was better suited to so sick a man than 
the Capitol. But, regardless of their friendly monitions, I 
tarried ; and, at six in the evening, the bill was postponed to 
the 4th of March next. This is a triumph to the Feder- 
alists." 



( To his wife, March 3d 



" To-morrow morning I shall begin my journey to Epping, 
and hope to reach home in about a fortnight. There is one 
circumstance attending my departure from this place which 
sensibly affects me, and has very much depressed my spirits. 
It is that I am to part from friends that I shall probably never 
see again. Not to mention others, I shall not find, if 1 return 
to this place in November, Morris and Koss in their seats, — 
Morris, the greatest orator I ever heard; Koss, the logical 
reasoner and impressive speaker. No more will their in- 
structive conversation inform my mind, nor their gentleman- 
like conduct polish my manners. They are men of great 
talents, of much and varied information, and of strict integrity. 
I shall ever consider it one of the fortunate circumstances of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 259 

my lifcj that I have had an opportunity to connect myself 
with them. What a pity that the rage of party should 
exclude such men from our national councils ! ; The injury 
done is to the country, and not to my friends.''' I have only 
time to add that I am well, and shall hasten to your presence 
with increased pleasure, after so long an absence." 

Another strong motive for a speedy return was 
the ill health of his father, whom he hardly expected 
to find alive. 

" Congress adjourned," he writes, " at midnight, on the 
3d of March ; and early the next morning I took the stage 
for home, which I reached safely and in good health on the 
loth at noon. My father was alive ; and I hastened imme- 
diately to visit him. On my entering the room he revived. 
His mental faculties were clear and strong ; and after con- 
versing with me for some time, inquiring how I had enjoyed 
my health, and what were our national prospects, he wished 
me, as night approached, to retire and take some rest, as I 
had travelled day and night. I had been in bed but a little 
time, before I was sent for, and again visited him. Just 
before the day dawned, on the 14th of March, 1803, in full 
possession of his reason, with calmness and fortitude, he 
expired without a struggle, in the eighty-second year of his 
age. It afforded me some consolation, though a melancholy 
one, to be present at his dissolution." 

His conduct towards his parents had always been 
that of the most respectful tenderness. He never 
ceased to express for them the utmost filial reverence 



260 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

and love. Years after, on reading the touching line 
of Cowper, 

"The son of parents passed into the skies/' 

he paused, closed the book, and said feelingly: "My 
case, that is truly my case — '^The son of parents 
passed into the skies,'" repeating the line with an 
emotion which brought tears into his eyes. 

During the recess he spent his time pleasantly in 
the society of his friends, visiting and being visited, 
and devoting his leisure, in the intervals of study, to 
rural occupations. On the first of October, he again 
set out for Washington, which city he reached on the 
14th. The President had summoned Congress to 
meet on the 17th, on account of the treaty which had 
been formed for the purchase of Louisiana. The 
treaty and conventions were at once laid before the 
Senate for their action. The two millions, appropri-^ 
ated at the last session, had been intended for the 
purchase of the territory east of the Mississippi, com- 
prehending the island of New Orleans, and as much 
of the Floridas as could be obtained. The times were 
peculiarly favorable for the success of the negotiation. 
France was on the eve of a war with England, whose 
naval superiority gave her easy access to Louisiana, 
and made the reduction of it by that power, in the 
event of war, almost certain. Napoleon was glad to 
find for his newly acquired territory a purchaser, who 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 261 

would not only keep it from his enemy, but pay him 
for it besides. Instead, therefore, of the small portion 
which alone the President sought to acquire, he 
offered the whole territory for fifteen millions, — 
a sum which, though it seemed large to those who 
were opposed to the purchase, and was at the time 
made the subject of much ill-founded clamor, was in 
truth a mere trifle compared with the value of the 
country ceded. The treaty was signed, April 30, 
1803. It now came before the Senate for ratification; 
and here difficulties, not altogetlier imaginary, rose 
in the way of its adoption. As to the title, the Fed- 
erahsts contended that the treaty was a mere quit- 
claim of the right of France ; and that it did not 
appear that France had complied with the condition 
on which alone Spain had agreed to cede it to her. 
The treaty of St. Ildefonso was not in itself a cession, 
but an aorreement to cede under certain circum- 

o 

stances. In point of fact, the country was still in 
the possession of Spain; and the Spanish minister 
here had entered his caveat or protest with our 
government against the transfer, as invalid. There 
were also provisions in the treaty, respecting the ad- 
mission of French and Spanish vessels into the terri- 
tory, and the rights of the inhabitants under it, which 
were thought by many to be contrary to the Consti- 
tution. But the great objection was to the acquisi- 
tion by the United States of any territory whatever. 



262 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

under the oblio-ation to admit it as a state into the 
Union. The Constitution, it was contended, was 
formed for the government of a certain known and 
defined territory, called the United States, and could 
not be extended to any other territory, without an 
amendment of that instrument, providing for such 
extension, nor, as some contended, without the con- 
sent of each of the states. These objections did not, 
however, prevent the ratification of the treaty (Oc- 
tober 20th) ; yeas 24, nays 7. The nays included 
all the Federalists present. My father was among 
them. He held that the treaty contained virtually 
a stipulation to admit the territory as a state into the 
Union ; and that. Congress having no right to do this, 
the Senate could not ratify a treaty which the gov- 
ernment itself had no power to execute. This 
unconstitutional character of the treaty was admitted 
by many in the debate, and particularly by Taylor of 
Virginia, who " confessed that the treaty was a vio- 
lation of the Constitution, but declared that he would 
ratify it, and throw himself on the people for pardon, 
and on Heaven to absolve him from the violation of 
a trust he had sworn to maintain." 

" "While the question was depending in the Senate," says 
my father, " I called upon Mr. Jefferson, and had an hour's 
. free conversation with him. In the course of it, he inquired 
what my opinion was respecting the treaty. I answered, I 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 263 

thouglit vre had no constitutional authority to make and 
execute such a treaty. He said that was precisely his opinion ; 
but that after it was ratified the Constitution could be altered, 
so as to authorize Congress to admit the country into the 
Union. ' The Constitution/ he said, in a letter to one of his 
friends, ' has made no provision for our holding foreign terri- 
tory ; still less for our incorporating foreign nations into our 
Union. Congress will be obliged to ask from the people an 
amendment of the Constitution, authorizing their receiving the 
province into the Union, and providing for its government.' 
The draft of such an amendment was prepared by Mr. Madi- 
son ; but, as it was doubtful whether it would be adopted by 
the requisite mumber of states, it was never formally proposed, 
though still talked of as necessary." 

When the subject came before the House, the same 
objections were made to the treaty as in the Senate. 
"The union of the states," said Roger Griswold of 
Connecticut, "is formed on the principle of a copart- 
nership, and it would be absurd to suppose that the 
agents of the parties, the general government, who 
have been appointed to execute the business of the 
compact, in behalf of the principals, the states, could 
admit a new partner, without the consent of the 
parties themselves. The treaty, therefore, so far as it 
stipulates for such an incorj)oration, is void." 

This violation of the Constitution, acquiesced in 
from its apparent utility in the present case, was 
regarded, in 1819, as a sufficient authority for the 



264 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

acquisition of Florida, by treaty ; of Texas, by resolu- 
tion of annexation, in 1845; and of large portions of 
Mexico, by conquest and purchase, in 1848 ; till it 
seems to be now settled as constitutional law that 
any extent of foreign territory may be acquired by 
the general government, and must, when so acquired, 
be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing 
with the original states. It is among the instructive 
lessons of our history that this claim of an unlimited 
power to acquire territory and admit states, is the act 
of those who pride themselves on being strict con- 
structionists ; and that under it they have added to 
the Union territories much more extensive than the 
whole of the original states. This has been done by 
those who deny the right of Congress to establish a 
bank, to make internal improvements, or to enact 
a protective tariff. The undeniable importance of 
possessing the outlet of the Mississippi made the 
acquisition of a portion of Florida and Louisiana 
desirable; and this was the extent of Mr. Jefferson's 
original design. But the prize was too dazzling to be 
rejected when half a continent was offered to his 
cupidity; and constitutional objections had, in this 
case, little weight Avith the mass of the people. Saga- 
cious men, indeed, looked forward to the day when, 
by the filling up of this territory, the balance of 
power would be transferred from the original states to 
this once alien country, and both the North and the 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 265 

South would sink into subjection to the power thus 
created. My father regarded it as a virtual dissolu- 
tion of the Union, and held that it was optional 
with any of the old states to say whether they 
would longer remain in the present confederacy, or 
form new ones more to their liking. Twenty-five 
years later, he said, "I still think the ratification of 
that treaty was the most direct and palpable viola- 
tion of the Constitution, of which Congress has ever 
been guilt}^" Yet, when it had been thus ratified, 
he thought himself bound to vote for the stock cre- 
ated to pay for the territory, as provided by the 
treaty. In this he diifered from his Federalist friends, 
who all voted against the bill, except John Quincy 
Adams. He had just then taken his seat as a Senator 
from Massachusetts, and with him my father con- 
tracted a friendship which ended only wdtli their 
lives. They voted together on this occasion, as on 
many others which followed. They both voted 
against the bill for taking possession of the terri- 
tory, as containing provisions which they deemed 
not only inexpedient, but unconstitutional. ) 

The last presidential election had, in the opinion 
of many, revealed a defect in the Constitution, which 
required amendment. The Constitution provided that 
each Presidential elector should vote for two persons; 
the one having the highest number of votes to be 
President, and the one having the next highest to be 



dent; the Federalists 
ballo tings for Burr. 



266 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Vice President; and in case there was no choice by the 
people, the President was to be chosen out of the five 
highest candidates^ by the House of Representatives, 
voting bj states ; and the Vice President, by the 
Senate. At the last election, no person having 
received a majority of all the votes, the two high- 
est candidates were Jefferson and Burr, who had 
each received the same number of electoral votes. 
The choice of President thus devolving on the House, 
it was not till the thirty-sixth ballot, at the end of a 
seven days' session, that Jefferson was chosen Presi- 
laving voted at all the previous 

An amendment of the Consti- 
• • • <" — 

tution was iww proposed, designating the office for 

which each person was intended by the electors, 
and providing, in case there was no choice by the 
electors, that the President should be chosen by the 
House, out of the three highest candidates. Though 
at first some doubts had been expressed by individ- 
uals on both sides, as to how they should vote, it soon 
became a party question, all the Republicans but one 
voting for, and all the Federalists against, the pro- 
posed amendments. After various alterations had 
been proposed, some of them adopted, and others 
rejected, the resolutions took their final form, and the 
debate on the main question commenced. My father 
delivered his sentiments on the subject in a speech of 
nearly two hours. An abstract of this speech would 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 267 

occupy too much room here ; but some portions of it 
may be noticed, either as important in themselves, 
or from their connection with the author. After 
explaining the only modes by which amendments 
could be made, and drawing from the difficulty of 
the operation a caution against hasty action, he con- 
tended that "the two-thirds of both Houses of Con- 
gress" required, to propose an amendment, meant, 
"not two-thirds of those who may happen to be 
present and vote on the question ; but two-thirds of 
all the members of each House, whom all the states 
have a right to elect." To sustain this construction 
he quoted several other clauses in which the expres- 
sion, "two-thirds of both Houses" had evidently this 
meaning, while in cases where the meaning is differ- 
ent, the phrase is changed to " two-thirds of those 
present." "If two-thirds of those present can pro- 
j)Ose amendments to the Constitution, it follows that 
twelve Senators, Avhen only a quorum is present, 
may propose them against the will of twenty-two 
Senators." This distinction was a material one in 
the present case, and, if sustained, would have been 
fatal to the success of the measure ; as it was well 
understood that no such majority could be obtained 
in either House. He denied the right of the state 
Legislatures to instruct Congress on this subject. 

*' We are not sent here," lie said, " for the purpose of 
registering the public opinion. Our duty is to obtain the 



268 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

best information we can, and then to act according to our 
own judgment of what is right and proper. I do not say 
that the states may not, in some cases, instruct their Senators 
and Representatives. I only say that it is improper, in this 
case, that those who are to ratify the amendments proposed 
shouki instruct us in the first instance what amendments to 
propose. It is the assumption of power, and not the exercise of 
right. As well might a petit jury instruct a grand jury to 
find a bill against a particular individual, and send it to them 
for trial. It is judging before the time, and under improper 
influences. . See too in what a vicious circle it involves us. 
We are called upon to propose the amendments, because some 
four or five state legislatures, my own among the rest, have 
so instructed us ; and when we have done it, the legislatures 
throughout the Union will be told that they must adopt 
them, because Congress, in its wisdom, has seen fit to propose 
them. We, because they have done it ; they, because we 
have ; with no independent action in either case. Thus the 
measure is to be carried by this irregular influence of one 
body on the other. If such instructions are obligatory, we 
are mere machines ; and our votes must be governed, not by 
the convictions of our own minds, but by the sovereign man- 
dates of state legislatures. I do not so understand the nature 
of my office, nor my duty in it. The people themselves 
established the Constitution, giving us certain rights under it, 
and these we are bound to exercise, according to our own 
judgment, without interference from others. In so doing we 
obey, in the highest possible sense, the voice of the people. 
Any other expression of that voice may be a true or a false 
one ; this only is authentic and obligatory, the official and 
sole constitutional expression of the public will." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 269 

Another position taken by him was that, though 
minor matters in the Constitution, such as the forais 
and modes of proceeding — the agencies by which 
certain great objects are to be affected — may be 
changed, the essential principles of that instrument 
— the great compromises on which the whole rests — 
cannot, in good faith and honesty, be disturbed, with- 
out the consent of all the partners to the compact, a 
compact formed by each individual state separately, 
with each of the other states. 

*^ Amendment means the improvement of what already 
exists, not a new creation; a change in form, not in sub- 
stance ; in modes of action only, and not in the principles of 
action. If a change is made in the essential principles of the 
compact, — if new principles are introduced, and a new order 
of things established, — it is a question whether the states 
dissenting from such changes are bound by them. The jirin- 
ciples of the confederacy being changed, without the consent 
of the partners to that confederacy, is not this in fact a disso- 
lution of the Union ? Are gentlemen disposed to go thus far ? 
The Constitution is a matter of compromise, as between the 
North and the South — the free and the slave states, and as 
between the large and the small states. These compromises 
are fundamental, and cannot in good faith be altered but by 
unanimous consent. Would the Southern States submit to an 
alteration depriving them of their slave representation ? This 
partial, unjust, and unequal representation already gives the 
slave states eighteen votes in the House, and as many in the 



270 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

electoral colleges, whicli is equal to tlie united votes in the 
House of six whole states, thus rendered powerless by this 
slave representation. And why should property, (for such 
you consider your slaves,) give an increase of representation in 
one portion of the Union, and property in other portions be 
not at all represented ? With the exception of Massachusetts, 
which must soon be divided, the Northern States are all small 
states ; and they are supposed to have received some com- 
pensatory advantage in this choice of a President and Vice 
President. But you take this away by the proposed amend- 
ment ; which secures to the large states both these important 
offices. When, under the present provision, the choice 
devolves upon the House, the small states stand some chance 
to elect a President, the choice being made out of the five 
highest candidates. By the present amendment this choice is 
reduced to the three highest ; and their choice is still further 
diminished by the designating principle. Will gentlemen 
who, by their negro votes alone, outnumber the votes of six 
entire states of this Union, seek to render the unjust advantage 
which they already possess still greater by this amendment ? 
And have they considered what the effect of this new injustice 
may be on the minds of our people ? There is a degree of 
sufferance to which men will submit ; but beyond that, even 
cowards become desperate. The people of the Eastern States 
are not insensible to the indignity thus offered them. They 
are a brave and hardy race, who know their rights, and will 
.not tamely submit to be reduced to a state of insignificance. 
They will see that no equivalent is given them for the injury 
this amendment inflicts on them, in the increased weight 
which it gives to the Southern and Western States, at their 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 271 

expense. "What effect this change may produce in New 
England, time alone can show. One thing is certain, that it 
will not strengthen the Union." / 

lie dwelt further on the danger to the Union of 
thus disturbing the compromises of the Constitution, 
already seriously affected by the purchase of Louisi- 
ana ; which would bring several new states into the 
confederacy, and throw the balance of power, origin- 
ally adjusted with so much care, wholly in favor of 
the South and Southwest. Other objections were 
urged ; some of them not unimportant ; all going to 
show that the proposed amendment would make the 
strong states still stronger, and the weak states, 
already too weak, yet weaker. The office of Vice 
President ought, in his opinion, to be abolished, and 
the Senate left, like the House, to choose its own pre- 
sidinor officer. 



"o 



" If the present amendment is adopted, the Vice President 
will ordinarily be a man of moderate but popular talents ; 
who will be supported because he can bring the votes of a 
large state to aid in the election of a President from another 
large state. He will seldom be a very able man ; for the 
President, like the jealous Turk, will bear no brother near the 
throne. Having the casting vote, when the Senate is equally 
divided, the Vice President gives an undue influence to his 
own state ; and this has hapj^ened oftener on important ques- 
tions than those who have not examined the journals for that 
purpose would suspect." 



272 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

For these reasons he was wilhng to abohsh the 
office of Vice President, but opposed to any other 
change of the Constitution. 

On closing his speech, he was congratulated by his 
friends on the ability he had shown in it. But he 
complained that he had not felt his usual animation 
in speaking, and he doubted whether he should again 
attempt a set speech in the Senate. The debate was 
continued till ten o'clock in the evening. Tracy 
closed it with great ability on the part of the oppo- 
sition. The amendments passed ; yeas 22, nays 10. 
It was objected that twenty-two Senators were not 
two-thirds of the Senate ; but the President fro tern. 
pronounced it a constitutional majority. A desultory 
conversation ensued, but no vote was taken. In the 
House a majority of two-thirds of those present and 
actually voting was obtained only by the casting vote 
of the Speaker. The amendments were approved by 
just the requisite number of states for their adoj)tion, 
and are now a part of the Constitution. It did not, 
however, receive the vote of New Hampshire, so that, 
though my father voted against instructions in this 
case, his constituents came round and voted with him 
in the end against the amendment. No other amend- 
ment of the Constitution has since been adopted. 

The House of Representatives had, at the previous 
session, voted to impeach John Pickering, District 
Judge of New Hampshire, and the case now came on 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLyjIER. 2Y3 

for trial before the Senate. The hypochondria, as it 
was called in 1794, of Judge Pickering, had in 1803 
been developed into a condition, bodily and mental, 
which rendered him. incompetent to the discharge of 
his official duties. How to get rid of him was now 
the question. The Constitution knows no mode of 
removing a judge except by "impeachment for high 
crimes and misdemeanors." That his mental powers 
were impaired or deranged, no one doubted. The 
New Hampshire Senators were both examined as wit- 
nesses as to his character, and testified to the high 
moral worth of the Judge, so long as he retained the 
use of his reason. Under these circumstances it was 
with difficulty that a sufficient number of votes could 
be obtained- to convict him. The Federal members 
were all opposed to the impeachment, and three of 
the Republicans absented themselves. The final vote 
was, yeas 19, nays 7, and he was accordingly removed. 
The case was a difficult one, in every aspect. Pick- 
ering's removal was desirable ; but to make insanity 
a misdemeanor was to confound all distinctions of 
law and justice, and to pervert the constitutional 
provision of impeachment for crime into an uncon- 
stitutional mode of removal from office without crime, 
thus changing the tenor of judicial office from "good 
behavior" to that of the good pleasure of Congress. 
The success of this impeachment furnished a new 
proof of the ease with which constitutional provisions 

18 



274 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

are made to yield to the supposed necessities of the 
public service, and to the interests, often urgent, of 
party leaders. In this case, it gave the administration 
an opportunity of rewarding partizan services with 
the spoils of office. John S. Sherburne, Jonathan 
Steele, Michael McCleary, and Richard Cutts Shan- 
non were the principal witnesses against Pickering. 
Sherburne was appointed Judge ; Steele, District 
Attorney; McCleary, Marshal; and Shannon, Clerk 
of the Court. Steele, expecting to have been Judge, 
refused to accept his appointment, assigning as the 
reason his agency in the removal of Pickering. 

During the discussions which grew out of this 
impeachment, and those which soon after followed 
respecting Judge Chase, many of the leading Repub- 
licans evinced a determination to render the judges 
dependent, for the tenure of their offices, on the will 
of Congress. William B. Giles contended that a judge 
might be removed, though guilty of no crime, for 
mere error in judgment, or because he differed in 
political opinion from the President, or from Con- 
gress; and that either of these was a sufficient 
ground of removal, on impeachment. Randolph 
said, that the provision that the judges should hold 
their offices during good behavior was a provision 
against removal by the President only; but that 
whenever the people, by their representatives, re- 
quest him to remove a judge, he is bound to do it, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 275 

and that the House may impeach, and the Senate 
convict and remove, for any cause which they may 
deem sufficient. The dominant party was already in 
possession of every department of the government, 
except the judiciary. They had abohshed the Cir- 
cuit Courts at the last session, and seemed now 
determined, by their movements against Chase, and 
their threats against some of the other judges, to 
drive their opponents from their only remainmg 
stronghold, the Supreme Court — "a battery," said 
Jefferson, " by which all the works of Republicanism 
are to beaten down and erased." My father had 
high notions of the importance of an independent 
judiciary; and this apparent determination to dis- 
place the judges, or, by the threat to do so, to bend 
them to the will of the party in power, filled him 
with gloomy apprehensions for the safety of our free 
institutions. These he regarded as depending for 
their permanence, more on constitutional restraints 
and the stability of established law, than on any 
vague notions of democratic virtue and popular 
infallibility. "I once thought," he says, February 
10th, 1803, "our judiciary would be a permanent 
defence against the encroachments of power ; but I 
presumed too much in favor of Republicanism. There 
are no bounds that can be set to the popular will." 
The people would, he thought, be right in the long 
run, and they must, at any rate, have their way in the 



276 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

end ; but they often go wrong under the excitement 
of passion, and there should be somewhere placed a 
stiff curb on the first impulsive movement. This is 
the true use and design of checks and balances, and 
constitutional restrictions, — a veto power, in some 
department of the government, to give time for the 
better sense and sound judgment of the people to 
correct their first hasty and erroneous impressions. 
The judiciary and the Senate are the only conserva- 
tive powers in our system, and if these are broken 
down, or betray their trust, there is no longer any 
barrier remaining against the despotism of party, or 
the sudden madness of popular delusion. 

It was with these apprehensions, and at this period, 
that Mr. Plumer began first to entertain doubts as to 
the permanence of the Union, and to regard its dis- 
solution as not improbable, and imder certain cir- 
cumstances, not undesirable. His opinions on this 
subject had much influence on his subsequent career, 
and shaped, to a great extent, his course of action, in 
some of the most interesting periods of his public 
life. It may be proper, therefore, to examine the 
state of public feeling on this question of a dissolu- 
tion of the Union, and the establishment of separate 
confederacies, as manifested, more or less strongly, at 
different periods, in all parts of the country. 

The union of thirteen independent states under 
one general government was an experiment of which 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 277 

many, from the first, doubted the expediency, and 
more the success. Diversities of interest and feehng 
had shown themselves strongly, even under the pres- 
sure of force from without ; still more strongly, after 
the peace with England ; and with even greater 
prominence in the convention by which the Constitu- 
tion was formed. Attachment to the Union was by 
no means universal or general. Writing to Washing- 
ton, David Stewart said, ''A spirit of jealousy, which 
may become dangerous to the Union, towards the 
Eastern States, seems to be growing fast among us. 
Colonel Lee tells me, that many who were warm sup- 
porters of the government, are changing their senti- 
ments, from a conviction of the impracticability of 
union with states w^hose interests are so dissimilar to 
those of Virginia." "That there is a diversity of 
interests in the Union," says Washington, in reply, 
(March 28, 1790,) "none has denied; yet it does not 
follow that sejDaration is to result from the disagree- 
ment. If the Eastern and Northern States are dan- 
gerous, in union, will they be less so, in separation ? 
What would Virginia and such other states as might 
be inclined to join her, gain by separation ?" Writing 
to Washington, three years later, (May 23, 1793,) Jef- 
ferson said, that opposition to the Union was origin- 
ally so extensive at the South, and had been recently 
so much increased, that " a small number only was 
wanting to place the majority on the other side f to 



278 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

prevent which his continuance at the head of affairs 
was of the utmost importance. " North and South 
w^ill hang together, if they have you to hang on. 
Otherwise, there is reason to fear the breaking of the 
Union into two or more parts." Edmund Randolph 
took the same ground. " The Union seems to me to 
be now on the eve of a crisis. The man alone, whose 
patronage secured the adoption of the Constitution, 
can check the assaults which it will sustain." Ham- 
ilton urged Washington's continuance in office, (July, 
1792,) from the same apprehension of danger to the 
Union from his retirement at that time. 

From that period to the present time, whenever 
any part of the country has felt dissatisfied with the 
measures of the government, this idea of a separa- 
tion of the states has presented itself to the disaf- 
fected as a remedy for the oppressions under which 
they have thought themselves to labor. Even before 
the adoption of the Constitution, while Louisiana be- 
longed to Spain, intrigues were carried on, with the 
authorities of New Orleans, for the separation of the 
Western country from the Union, and the estaj^lish- 
ment of more intimate relations with Spain. The 
latter country had its agents in the West, and, for a 
long time, paid pensions to certain prominent men 
there. " From the period of our independence," said 
Mr. Pope, of Kentucky, in the Senate of the United 
States, (Dec. 27, 1810,) " Spain has been intriguing to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 279 

separate the Western from the Atlantic States." In 
1794, the Legislature of Kentucky, in a remonstrance 
to the President and to Congress, threatened a dis- 
memberment of the Union, if the navigation of the 
Mississippi was not secured to them. During the 
Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, 
Hamilton writes to Washington, (August 6th, 1794,) 
that the opposition "has matured to a point that 
threatens the foundations of the Union." " If," said 
Fisher Ames, (December 12, 1794,) "fortune had 
turned her back upon us in August last,- this Union 
would have been rent. The spirit of insurrection had 
tainted a vast extent of country besides Pennsylvania." 
"Separation," said Jefferson, (December 28, 1794,) 
" is now near and certain, and determined in the mind 
of every man." This expression is doubtless exagger- 
ated, growing out of his own heated opj)Osition to 
what he calls " the infernal excise law ;" which would, 
he said, be made the instrument of dissolving the 
Union, and "set us all afloat to choose what part of 
it we would adhere to." Among the means used to 
prevent the ratification of Jay's Treaty, in 1795, was 
a threat from Virginia, " to recede from the Union, in 
case the treaty should be ratified." These threats 
were not lost on the mind of Washington. The dan- 
gers of disunion form one of the most prominent 
topics of his Farewell Address (September 17, 1796), 
to the people of the United States. In it, he states. 



280 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

at great length, the advantages of the Union to the 
North and the South, the East and the West ; and 
calls earnestly on the peojDle "to frown indignantly 
upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate 
any portion of our country from the rest." 

These warnings, often quoted with salutary effect, 
have not, however, prevented the formation of plans 
of disunion, even in the native state of their author. 
The opposition to Adams's administration was so 
strong in the South and West, that threats of dis- 
union were loudly uttered, and measures adopted, 
particularly in Virginia, having evidently that result 
in view, in the event of his re-election. Writing to 
Patrick Henry, (January 15, 1799,) Washington says 
that, though he believes the mass of the people are 
well affected to the general government, yet. " mea- 
sures are systematically and pertinaciously pursued " 
by the state authorities, "which must eventually 
dissolve the Union," if not put down by force. " The 
views of men can only be known, or guessed at, by 
their words or actions. Can those of the leaders of 
opposition be mistaken, if judged by this rule ? The 
tranquillity of the Union, and of this state, in par- 
ticular, is hastening to an awful crisis." " The late 
attempt of Virginia and Kentucky," says Hamilton to 
Dayton, (1799,) "to unite the state legislatures in a 
direct resistance to certain laws of the Union, can be 
considered in no other light than an attempt to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 281 

change the government. It will be wise, then, to act 
on the hypothesis that the opposers of the govern- 
ment are resolved, if it shall be practicable, to make 
its existence a question of force." 

When Spain denied the right of deposit at New 
Orleans, threats were again uttered, that the western 
people would join the Spaniards, and "make the 
Alleghany Mountains the western boundary of the 
United States." "Would it be indecorous," said 
Wilkinson to Hamilton, "that I should express my 
apprehensions that we repose in false security; and 

• 

that if we are not seasonably aroused, the dismem- 
berment of the Union must be put to hazard ?" Mr. 
Ross said in the Senate, (February 14, 1803,) that 
if the western people had not justice done them, in 
the business of the Mississippi, they would separate 
from the Union, and make the best terms they could 
with the power, whoever that might be, which com- 
manded the mouth of the river. "Put France," said 
Governeur Morris, on the same occasion, "in possession 
of New Orleans, and the time will soon come, when 
those who cross the mountains, will cross the line 
of your jurisdiction." White of Delaware predicted, 
from the same event, " one of the greatest evils that 
can befall us, the dismemberment of the Union." 
Three years later, a series of articles was published 
in Ohio, in favor of a separation of the Western States 
from those on the Atlantic ; and the same measure 



282 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

was proposed in western Pennsylvania. This was at 
the time of Burr's conspiracy, and there is little 
doubt that the project of a western confederacy was 
then extensively entertained by many able, active, 
and disaffected men, who, "tired of the dull pursuits 
of civil life," looked to Burr to lead them out of the 
old confederacy into a " new empire of wealth and 
glory." The pretence was a war with Spain, and an 
attack on Mexico. Andrew Jackson favored Burr, 
while he believed this to be his object ; but, when he 
discovered the true design, he wrote to Claiborne : 
"I hate the Dons, and would delight to see Mexico 
reduced ; but I would die in the last ditch, before I 
would see the Union disunited." 

Other and not a few more recent instances of anti- 
union feeling and action, at the South and in the 
West, might be given; but these are sufficient for 
our purpose. They show that such designs were of 
almost perpetual occurrence in our early history. It 
will excite little surprise, therefore, if we find, in 
the progress of this narrative, that similar move- 
ments, having the same object in view, have occurred 
also at the North. With some of these Mr. Plumer 
was connected ; and it is on this account that the sub- 
ject is here introduced, 
(in 1793, Timothy Dwight, President of Yale Col- 
lege, and like most of the eminent New England 
divines of the day, a leading politician, wrote thus to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 283 

a friend : — " A war with Great Britain we, at least, 
in New England, will not enter into. Sooner would 
ninety-nine out of a hundred separate from the Union, 
than plunge ourselves into such an abyss of misery." 
In the letters of Oliver Wolcott, Lieutenant Governor 
of Connecticut, to his son, then Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, this idea is repeatedly advanced. " If," says he, 
(November 21, 1796,) "the French arms continue to 
preponderate, and a governing influence of this nation 
shall continue in the Southern and Western countries, 
I am confident, and indeed hope, that a separation will 
soon take place." " Such an event," he says, (Novem- 
ber 28, 1796,) " will be unhappy for us ; but much less 
so, than to be under the government of a French 
agent." "Though I am sensible," he says, (December 
12, 1796,) "by our late revolution, of the evils of one, 
I sincerely declare that I wish the Northern States 
would separate from the Southern, the moment that 
event [the election of Jefferson] shall take effect." 
This plan of disunion, thus rife in Connecticut in 
1796, may not improbably be regarded as the germ 
of that which appeared at Washington, in 1803-4, at 
Boston in 1808-9, and which showed itself, for the 
last time, where it was first disclosed, in the Hartford 
Convention of 1814. ' 

That the acquisition of Louisiana would lead to the 
dismemberment of the Union, seems to have been, at the 
time of its purchasej a not uncommon opinion. " Our 



284 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

country," said Fisher Ames, (October 6, 1803,) " is too 
big for Union." In the House of Representatives, 
Roger Griswokl, of Connecticut, said, (October 25, 
1803,) " The vast and unmanageable extent, which the 
acquisition of Louisiana will give to the United States, 
the consequent dispersion of our population, and the 
destruction of that balance, which it is so important 
to maintain, between the Eastern and the Western 
States, threatens, at no very distant day, the subver- 
sion of our Union." In the Senate, James Hillhouse, 
of Connecticut, spoke, (January 26, 1804,) of the 
country as being divided by geographical lines. " I 
am," he said, "an eastern man; but while I am the 
representative of a state which is yet a member of 
the Union, I hope I shall have as much influence, as 
if I were a southern man." Jackson, of Georgia, 
said, (February 1, 1804,) "The settlement of Louisiana 
will effect, what I much deprecate, a separation of 
this Union." Drayton, of New Jersey, said, (February 
2, 1804,) "If Upper Louisiana is settled, the people 
there wiU. separate from us ; they will form a new 
empire, and become our enemies." Stone, of North 
Carolina, said, (February 16, 1804,) " The acquisition 
of Louisiana will produce one of two things, either a 
division of the Union, or a very different govern- 
ment from what we new have." 
\ Mr. Plumer had, even earlier, expressed himself to 
the same effect. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 285 

^' The ratification," lie says, (October 20, 1803,) " of this 
treaty and the possession of that immense territory will 
hasten the dissolution of our present government. The Con- 
stitution never contemplated the accession of a foreign people, 
or the extension of our territory. ' Our government may be 
compared to a company in trade. With as much propriety 
might a new partner be admitted, and the firm changed, 
without the consent of the old partners, as a new state, formed 
from without the limits of the original territory, be admitted 
into the Union, without the preconsent of each of the present 
states. Adopt this western world into the Union, and you 
destroy at once the weight and importance of the Eastern 
States, and compel them to establish a separate and indepen- 
dent empire." 

On this subject lie wrote, during the session, many 
letters to his friends in New Hampshire. To Brad- 
bury Cilley, he wrote, January 5, 1804 : 

" I fear we are rapidly approaching a great crisis in our 
afiairs. My hopes rest on the union of New England. That 
portion of our country will, and must unite, and become firm 
and determined in their measures. I am willing to own to 
you that I have spent many gloomy hours in contemplating 
this subject. The subject, at first, filled me with horror and 
distrust." 



To Oliver Peabody, (January 19, 1804,) he gives a 
glowing picture of the evils suffered by New Eng- 
land, and then asks : 



286 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

" What do you wish your Senators and Representatives to 
do here ? We have no part in Jefferson, and no inheritance 
in Virginia. Shall we return to our homes, sit under our 
own vines and fig trees, and be separate from slaveholders ? 
These are serious questions. What is your opinion, and that 
of the few in whom you can confide ?"y 

To Thomas W. Thompson, he writes, in February, 
1804: 

" Our affairs rapidly approach an important crisis. The 
government is Virginian. New England must soon feel its 
degraded condition, and I hope w;ill have energy to assert 
and maintain its rights ; and it will be of infinite importance 
that the necessary changes should be effected under the forms, 
and by the authority of the existing state governments. What 
think you of this ? Must the inheritance be secured ? I 
hope the necessity of preserving our state governments, as a 
security against the approaching storm which may rend the 
Union, will induce men of sound minds, who have property, 
as well as reputation and life at hazard, to exert themselves in 
the March elections." 

To this Thompson replied, (February 27th,) "1 have 
no idea that the season for action is near. The mass 
of our people do not reflect. They must be made to 
feel. In the meantime, we are all covetous of time 
and money, and nearly all too poor to contribute 
much of either for public purposes." To this his 
disheartened correspondent rejoins,! (March 10,j "In 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 287 

New Eno;land I see but too little of national cliarac- 
ter or public spirit. The love of money will be our 
ruin. Oh ! that the Eastern States knew, in this their 
day, the things that belong to their peace ; but they 
are hidden from their eyes. If New England will not 
come out, and separate from this mass of Southern 
corruption, she must partake of their plagues." At 
an earlier date, (February 22d,) he had written to 
his predecessor in the Senate, James Sheafe, making 
the inquiry, "Will the Eastern States think of a sepa- 
ration? What is your opinion on the subject?'') To 
this Sheafe replied, (March 7th,) "On the subject 
you hint at of separation, as a commercial man, I 
should dread such an event. Our consequence abroad 
would be lowered to nothing. I do not believe that 
a separation can be made, before half a century is 
past, without consequences ruinous to all the states." 
To Jeremiah Smith, Mr. Plumer wrote, in March : 

" If ^ve wish for security to persons, property, or reputa- 
tion, yve must introduce a new order of things. How mutable 
is the state of things ! A few years since, our fairest hopes 
rested on the wisdom and integrity of the General Govern- 
ment, to protect us against the ignorance and frauds of state 
legislatures. I fondly hope I shall live to see the righteous 
separated from the wicked by a geographical line. True 
policy demands it." 

Smith had written to him, (March 9th, 1796,) "I 






y.^ 



/^ 



<^ 



288 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 



wisli with all my heart that Virginia was out of the 
Union. These overgrown states are always trouble- 
some.'/ ^^^ later, (Dec. 22, 1803,) "I feel, I freely 
confess, ho affection for the general government. It is 
Virginian all over; and you may depend upon it, this 
sentiment daily gains ground in New Hampshire. 
We feel that we are Virginia slaves now, and that we 
are to be delivered over to Kentucky and the other 
Western States, when our Virginia masters are tired of 
us. ) Is it possible that we can long stick together, as 
a nation, when there is so little cement, and so much 
repelling force in this heterogeneous mass? Man is a 
gregarious animal, it is true; but nature leads to 
small herds ; and herds are not gregarious." 
-' Other passages, of the same import with the pre- 
ceding, might be quoted from Mr. Plumer's letters of 
this session ; but these are sufficient to show that he 
was not mistaken, when, at a later period, he said 
that he was himself, at this time, a disunionist. The 
answers which he received, in reply to his letters 
on this subject, expressed universally a concurrence 
of opinion as to the evils of the times ; but did not 
generally respond favorably to the hints of disunion 
thus thrown out. Some of them, however, did thus 
respond. I One, from a distinguished divine and poli- 
tician of Massachusetts, Jedediah Morse, expressed, 
very distinctly, a feeling then beginning to show 
itself among certain ardent politicians of that state. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 289 

"I cannot but hope," lie says, (February 3d, 1804,) "that 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut will outride 
the storm that threatens the ruin of our country. If we were 
peaceably severed from the rest of the United States, with 
perhaps some other states joined with us, and left to manage 
our own affairs in our own way, I think we should do much 
better than we now do. Our empire is growing unwieldy ; 
and must, I think, ere long break in pieces. Some think the 
sooner the better." I 

To this Mr. Plumer replied, (March lOtli :) 

" I hope the time is not far distant, when the people east 
of the North River will manage their own affairs in their own 
way, without being embarrassed by regulations from Virginia ; 
and that the sound part will separate from the corrupt." 

The preceding extracts are from speeches and let- 
ters written at, or near the time of the events to 
which they refer. But the subject came unexpect- 
edly before the public in 1828, in consequence of 
certain statements of John Quincy Adams, then 
President of the United States, in relation to this 
project of 1803-4. In explanation of a statement 
made by Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Adams alleged, (October 
21st, 1828,) that the object of "certain leaders" of 
the Federal party in Massachusetts, in 1808, "was, 
and had been for several years, a dissolution of the 
Union, and the establishment of a separate confeder- 
acy." This "he knew from unequivocal evidence, 

19 



290 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER, 

though not provable in a court of law." This design, 
he said, (December 30th, 1828,) "had been formed in 
the winter of 1803-4, immediately after, and as a con- 
sequence of, the acquisition of Louisiana. It had gone 
to the length of fixing upon a military leader for its 
execution. The author of the written plan was 
named to me, — a distinguished citizen of Connecticut 
I was told it had originated there, and had been 
communicated to individuals at Boston, at New York, 
and at Washington." These statements of Mr. Adams 
were assailed from various quarters with great vehe- 
mence, and their truth denied, with many injurious 
imputations on their author. Under these circum- 
stances, Mr. Plumer wrote to Mr. Adams the follow- 
inpf letter: 

^'Epping, K H., December 20, 1828. 
*^ During the long and eventful session of Congress of 
1803 and 1804, I was a member of the Senate, and was at 
the city of AVashington every day of that session. In the 
course of the session, at diiferent times and places, several of 
the Federalists, Senators and Representatives, from the New 
England States, informed me that they thought it necessary to 
establish a separate government in New England, and if it 
should be found practicable, to extend it so far south as to 
include Pennsylvania ; but in all events to establish one in 
New England. They complained, that the slave-holding states 
had acquired, by means of their slaves, a greater increase of 
Representatives in the House than was just and equal ; that too 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 291 

great a portion of the public revenue was raised in the North- 
ern States, and too much of it expended in the Southern and 
Western States ; and that the acquisition of Louisiana, and 
the new states that were formed, and those to be formed in 
the West and in the ceded territory, would soon annihilate 
the weight and influence of the Northern States in the 
government. 

" Their intention, they said, was to establish their new 
government under the authority and protection of state gov- 
ernments ; that having secured the election of a governor 
and a majority of a legislature in a state in favor of a separa- 
tion, the legislature should repeal the law authorizing the 
people to elect Representatives to Congress, and the legisla- 
ture decline electing Senators to Congress, and gradually with- 
draw the state from the Union, establish custom-house officers 
to grant registers and clearances to vessels, and eventually 
establish a Federal government in the Northern and Eastern 
States ,• and that if New England united in the measure, it 
would in due time be effected without resorting to arms. 

" Just before that session of Congress closed, one of the 
gentlemen to whom I have alluded, informed me that 
arrangements had been made to have, the next autumn, in 
Boston, a select meeting of the leading Federalists in New 
England, to consider and recommend the measures necessary 
to form a system of government for the Northern States, and 
that Alexander Hamilton, of New York, had consented to 
attend that meeting, 

" Soon after my return from Washington, I adopted the 
most effectual means in my power to collect the opinions of 
well-informed leading Federalists in New Hampshire, upon 
the subject. I found some in favor of the measure, but a 



292 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

great majority of them decidedly opposed to the project ; and 
from the partial and limited inquiries I made in Massachusetts, 
the result appeared to me nearly similar to that in New 
Hampshire. 

*'The gentleman who, in the winter of 1803 and 1804, 
informed me there was to be a meeting of Federalists in the 
autumn of 1804, at Boston, at the session of Congress in the 
winter of 1804 and 1805, observed to me that the death of 
General Hamilton had prevented that meeting ; but that the 
project was not and would not be abandoned. 

" I owe it to you. as well as myself, to state explicitly, 
that in the session of Congress, in the winter of 1803 and 
1804, I was, myself, in favor of forming a separate govern- 
ment in New England, and wrote several confidential letters 
to a few of my friends recommending the measure. But 
afterwards, upon thoroughly investigating and maturely con- 
sidering the subject, I was fully convinced that my opinion in 
favor of separation was the most erroneous that I ever formed 
upon political subjects. The only consolation I had was that 
my error in opinion had not produced any acts injurious to 
the integrity of the Union. When the same project was 
revived in 1808 or 1809, during the embargo and non- 
intercourse, and afterwards, during the war of 1812, I used 
every effort in my power, both privately and publicly, to 
defeat the attempt then made to establish a separate inde- 
pendent government in the Northern States. 

" You are at liberty to make such use of this communica- 
tion as you shall consider proper. 

" Accept the assurance of my high respect and esteem 

WILLIAM PLUMER." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 293 

f 

( The publication of this letter led to some abusive 
attacks on its author, and to denials, more or less 
explicit, on the part of several persons who were 
members of Congress from Connecticut in 1803-4, 
as to their knowledge of any such design. One of 
these, Calvin Goddard, says, "I never did, during that 
or any other period, know, hear of, or suspect the 
existence of any such project." Another, Simeon 
Baldwin, says, that he "never heard from any Feder- 
alist, then or at any other time, the suggestion of a 
plan to dissolve the Union, or an intimation of a wish 
that such an event might take place." A third, John 
Davenport, says, that he does not " believe in the 
existence of any such plan, excepting only in the 
brains of Mr. Adams and Mr. Plumer." A fourth, 
John Cotton Smith, says, that he does " not believe 
that any plan of a division of the Union was ever 
contemplated, even for a moment, by any Federalist, 
in or out of Congress, distinguished for either talents 
or influence." James Hillhouse's statement runs thus: 
"I can with confidence say that during the session of 
Congress (of 1803-4,) or at any other time, either 
before or since, I never heard or knew of any com- 
bination or plot, among Federal members of Congress, 
to dissolve the Union, or to form a northern or eastern 
confederacy." Harrison Gray Otis and his eleven 
associates, in their controversy with Mr. Adams, say, 
(January 28, 1829,) "we solemnly disavow all knowl- 



294 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

edge of such a project, and all remembrance of the 
mention of it, or of any plan analogous to it, at that 
or any subsequent period." ) 

To those familiar with the history of the country 
from 1803 to 1805, these statements, high as is the 
character of their authors, will be received with many 
grains of allowance. To some it will seem that they 
must have been framed in accordance with the 
maxim, held good among lawyers, "to deny every- 
thing and call for the proofs." The denials were 
such as we have seen ; the proofs were loudly called 
for. These, so far as the subject of this memoir is 
concerned, it is my business to present.) It is, how- 
ever, with no wish to revive controversy on this sub- 
ject, and, least of all, to cast censure on any one, but 
in justice to the memory of a man who could not be 
mistaken in the facts which he related, and whose 
veracity those who knew him best would be the last 
to question, that the subject has been here introduced, 
and will be further considered in other parts of this 
work. The extracts already given from Mr. Plumer's 
letters, show that he was at this time himself in favor 
of disunion. Those which follow will show that he 
was not the only disunionist of that day. I begin 
with his own statements, arranged in chronological 
order, some of them made before, others at the time 
of the controversy of 1828-9. 
/( Under date of November 23, 1806, in his journal, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 295 

the following statement occurs, in a notice of Aaron 
Burr. It is given as an instance of Burr's art in pro- 
ducing an impression on others, without committing 
himself by an express statement of his own opinions. 

" In the winter of 1804, Timothy Pickering, James Hill- 
house, myself and others dined with him (Burr) one day. 
Mr. Hillhouse unequivocally declared that it was his opinion 
that the United States would soon form two distinct and 
separate governments. On this subject, Mr. Burr conversed 
very freely ; and the impression made on my mind was, that 
he not only thought such an event would take place, but that 
it was necessary that it should. To that opinion I was myself 
then a convert. Yet, on returning to my lodgings, after crit- 
ically analysing his words, there was nothing in them that 
necessarily implied his approbation of Mr. Hillhouse's obser- 
vations. Perhaps no man's language was ever so apparently 
explicit, and, at the same time, so covert and indefinite." 

This extract relates principally to Burr, whose 
character was the subject of remark, and yet indi- 
rectly to Mr. IliUhouse, yet it shows what was his 
opinion on the subject, at that time. Another con- 
versation with the latter, on the same day, will be 
noticed in a subsequent extract. ( Under date of 
February 6th, 1809, he says: "When the late Samuel 
Hunt intimated to me the necessity of receding from 
the Union, he observed that the work must com-- 
mence in the state legislatiures j so that those who 



296 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

acted should be supported by state laws. This he 

said was the opinion of , of Uriah Tracy and 

of many others." I omit the name of one person 
here introduced, as Mr. Plumer had no personal 
intercourse with him, and knew his opinions only 
as reported by others. It is the name, however, of 
an individual, for many years prominent in the 
politics of Massachusetts, and whose known opinions 
and conduct render his views on this question very 
little doubtful. Speaking of the Essex Junto, under 
date of March lOtli, 1810, he says, "Their prime 
object is the dissolution of the general government, 
and a separation of the states." (October 20th, 1812,) 
"They are anxious to prevent Mr. Madison's having 
a single electoral vote in New England, that they 
may promote their favorite object, — a dismemberment 
of the Union." k Under date of August 6th, 1812, he 
says, "The last time I saw Mr. Griswold, which was 
while I was in Congress, he was a zealous advocate — 
privately, but not publicly — for the dismemberment 
of the Union." Under date of July 21st, 1827, he 
says that "long and frequent conversations with 
•Roger Griswold, Uriah Tracy, Samuel Hunt, Calvin 
Goddard, and others induced me, at length, to believe 
that separation was necessary for the security and 
prosperity of the Eastern States." ' He mentioned to 
Mr. Griswold, as an objection to the j^i'oject, the 
danger to which its advocates might be exposed. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 297 

Griswolcl said that this difficulty might be obviated. 
His plan was "to do every thing under authority of 
the legislatures of the states." We see here the 
origin of jSIr. Plumer's idea, in the letter to Smith, 
of "the infinite im23ortance of preserving the state 
governments, as a security against the approaching 
storm." This mode of withdrawing from the Union, 
under authority of the state legislatures, was, indeed, 
too obvious to escape notice. "It is," said Randolph, 
(January 31st, 1824,) "in the power of the states to 
extinguish this government at a blow. . They have 
only to refuse to send members to the other branch 
of the legislature, or to appoint electors of President 
and Vice President, and the thing is done." • IJnder 
date of January 15th, 1828, Mr. Plumer says, "In 
1804, he (Roger Griswold) was in favor of the New 
England States forming a Republic by themselves, 
and receding from the Union. This opinion he com- 
municated to several of his friends, of whom I was 
one." ). These extracts are all of a date earlier than 
that of the Adams and Otis controversy, and could 
not, therefore, have been written in reference to it. 

Commenting on that controversy, under date of 
March 9th, 1829, Mr. Plumer says : "T was satisfied, 
when I wrote my letter to Mr. Adams, and gave him 
liberty to publish it, that I should be vilified in the 
newspapers, and in conversation; but a sense of duty 
to my injured friend moved my pen, and I do not 



298 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

repent my writing." This remark is in accordance 
with his usual disregard of consequences to himself, 
where he thought it his duty to act. It could not 
have been j)leasant to him to make this avowal of 
what he regarded as the greatest error of his public 
life, — an error known to so few that, if not thus 
avowed, it might have passed unnoticed by the 
public. But he saw his friend unjustly assailed; 
and it was not in his nature to withhold the testi- 
mony which it was in his power to give. A timid 
man might have stood by, in silence ; a selfish one, 
with secret satisfaction that he was not himself so 
assailed. But neither timid, nor selfish, he had no 
hesitation in speaking out, when his doing so seemed 
to him a duty. Under date of May 11th, 1829, he 
says : 

*' There is no circumstance in these publications that sur- 
prises me so much as the letter of James Hillhouse. I 
recollect, and am certain that, on returning early one evening 
from dining with Aaron Burr, this same Mr. Hillhouse, after 
saying to me that New England had no influence in the gov- 
ernment, added, in an animated tone, ' The Eastern States must, 
and will dissolve the Union, and form a separate government 
of their own ; and the sooner they do this the better.' I 
think the first man who mentioned the subject of dismember- 
ment to me was Samuel Hunt, a Representative from New 
Hampshire. He conversed with me, often and long, upon 
the subject. But there was no man with whom I conversed 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 299 

SO often, so fully and freely, as with Roger GrisAYold. He 
"was, without doubt or hesitation, decidedly in favor of dis- 
solving the Union, and establishing a northern confederacy. 
He thought it might be effected peaceably, without a resort 
to arms; and entered into a particvilar detail of the mode 
of effecting it. Next to Griswold, Uriah Tracy conversed 
most freely and fully upon this subject. It was he who 
informed me that General Hamilton had consented to attend 
a meeting of select Federalists at Boston, in the autumn of 
1804. I do not recollect that he said Hamilton was in favor 
of the measure ; but I know he said Hamilton had consented 
to attend. Tracy said the day for meeting was not appointed; 
nor were the persons who were to attend, selected ; but that I 
should be notified of the time, and invited to attend. It was 
Tracy, who, in the session of 1804—5, informed me that the 
death of Hamilton had prevented the meeting in Boston ; but, 
he added, the plan of separation is not abandoned. The three 
men last named, Tracy, Griswold, and Hunt, were the men 
with whom I principally conversed on that subject. 

"One day, in the session of 1804—5, I distinctly recollect 
walking, about two hours, with Timothy Pickering, round the 
northerly and easterly lines of the city of Washington ; and 
on that walk no other person accompanied us. I perfectly 
recollect his conversing with me at that time, as if he were 
desirous of saying something to me, which he hesitated to 
communicate. His manner made such a strong and deep 
impression on my mind, that I shall never forget it. At 
length, he said, that he thought the United States were too 
large, and their interests too variant, for the Union to continue 
long ; and that New England, New York, and perhaps, Penn- 



300 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

sylvania, mlglit and ought to form a separate government. 
He then paused, and, lookuig me fully in the face, awaited my 
reply. I simply asked him, if the division of the states was 
not the object which General Washington most pathetically 
warned the people to oppose. He said, ' Yes, the fear of it 
was a ghost, that, for a long time, haunted the imagination of 
that old gentleman.' I do not recollect that he afterwards 
mentioned to me the subject of dismemberment." 

It should be here observed, that before the date of 
this conversation, Mr. Plumer had himself ceased to 
be a disunionist.-^ Of Hunt, Mr. Plumer, under date 
of July 31st, 1831, says: "His object was to divide 
the United States into two separate independent gov- 
ernments ', the states easterly of Maryland to unite 
and form a government more energetic and more 
favorable to commerce, than the one which then 
existed. To effect this object, he corresponded with 
a considerable number of influential Federalists in 
various states." Under date of June 4, 1840, he says, 
that Tracy told him, in the winter of 1804, "that he 
was in favor of the Northern States withdrawing 
from the Union." . 

On reviewing this testimony, it may be remarked 
that there is no direct contradiction between the state- 
ments of Messrs. Hillhouse and Plumer. The former 
says, that he knew of no combination or plot to dis- 
solve the Union. The latter, that Hillhouse told him 
the Eastern States must and would dissolve the Union, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 301 

and the sooner they did it the better. The one is the 
avowal of an opinion merely ; the other, the denial 
of any plan formed to carry that opinion into effect. 
It is observable that Mr. Pickering, though alive at 
the Adams controversy, took no part in it. He was 
not the man to deny any well considered opinion 
which he might have entertained, because it would 
subject him to reproach.,) Mr. Plumer believed, on 
evidence which he deemed conclusive, that some 
other prominent men, several especially in Massa- 
chusetts, were concerned in this design, or approved 
of it ; but they are not named here, as he had no 
direct personal communication with them on the sub- 
ject. As to the proposed meeting for consultation, at 
Boston, in 1804, it should be remarked, that to consult 
on a project does not necessarily imply that the per- 
sons consulting have made up their minds in its favor; 
and still less, that they are prepared, if so decided, to 
follow up their opinions with correspondent -action. 
It does, however, imply that the project was one 
deserving serious consideration, when such men as 
Hamilton, the acknowledged leader of the Federal 
party, Griswold, its leader in the House, and such 
Senators as Tracy, Pickering,- Hillhouse and Plumer 
were to be members of a meeting of " select Fed- 
eralists," by whom it was to be discussed, and, if found 
feasible, adopted. 



y 



302 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

With respect to Hamilton's views on the subject of 
disunion, Mr. Pknner affirmed nothing in his letter to 
Adams, as he knew nothing of them at that time. He 
was afterwards satisfied that, if Hamilton had attend- 
ed the proposed meeting, it would have been to dis- 
suade his friends from the project. On this subject, 
De Witt Clinton made the following statement, Janu- 
ary 31, 1809, in the Senate of New York: 

" It is perhaps known to but few, that the project of a dis- 
memberment of this country is not a novel plan, growing out 
of the recent measures of the government, as has been pre- 
tended. It has been cherished by a number of individuals 
for a series of years. A few months before the death of a 
distinguished citizen, whose decease so deeply excited the 
public sensibility, it was proposed to him to enlist his great 
talents in the promotion of this most nefarious scheme ; and 
to his honor be it spoken, it was rejected by him. with abhor- 
rence and disdain." 

This testimony of Clinton, to the existence of the 
project of 1803-4, and to Hamilton's disapprobation 
of it, is independent of that of Adams and Plumer, 
from neither of whom did he derive any information 
on this subject. It agrees perfectly with what Rufus 
King told Adams, at the time, thus adding a fourth 
witness to the fact, each independent of the others. 
On his way home from Washington, Adams called on 
King, (April 8th, 1804,) at New York. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 303 

" I found/' he says, " there sitting, Mr. Tmiothy Pickering, 
who, shortly after I went in, took leave and withdrew. Mr. 
King said to me, ^ Colonel Pickering has been talking to me 
about a project they have for a separation of the States, and 
a northern confederacy ; and he has also been, this day, talk- 
ing of it with General Hamilton. Have you heard anything 
of it at Washington ?' I said I had — much — but not from 
Colonel Pickering. [Adams and Pickering, though colleagues, 
were not friends.] 'Well,' said Mr. King, ^I disapprove 
entirely of the project ; and so I have told liim ; and so, I 
am happy to tell you, does General Hamilton.' " yy^ 

The preceding extract is from a pamphlet, written 
by Mr. Adams, in 1829, but not yet published. \, The vs 
following extracts arq from his letters to IMr. Plumer, 
the first dated December 31, 1828 : 

*' Much of my information, at the time, was collected from 
Mr. Tracy, the Senator from Connecticut, who disapproved 
the project, but was, I believe, made acquainted with it in all 
its particulars. I think, though I am not sure, that it was he 
who named to me the writer of the plan by which the sepa- 
ration was to be effected, with three alternatives of boundary. 
1. If possible, the Potomac. 2. The Susq^uehanna. 3. The 
Hudson. That is, the northern confederacy was to extend, 
if it should be found practicable, so as to include Maryland. 
This was the maximum. The Hudson, that is, New England 
and a part of New York, was the minimum. The Susque- 
hanna, or Pennsylvania, was the middle term.] There were 
moments of weariness and disgust in my own mind at the 



304 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

errors and vices of Mr. Jefferson's administration, when I 
almost despaired of the Union myself. That it affected you 
to the extent at one time of contemplating with favor the sub- 
stitution of another and more compassable system of confed- 
eration, can be no disparagement to your understanding or 
your heart." . 

f It may be here remarked, that Adams says, that 
Tracy " disapproved the project," and Plumer, that he 
" was in fjxvor of the Northern States withdrawing 
from the Union." Tracy, finding Adams averse to 
the project, may have conversed with him so cau- 
tiously, as to leave on his mind the impression that 
they did not differ materially in this respect ; while 
to Plumer, who was in favor of it, he may have 
expressed directly his ajDprobation of the planJ With 
the plan itself, they both agree that he was ac- 
quainted. Or, it may be, as is not unusual in such 
cases, the plan might have appeared to him, at times, 
feasible and even necessary, and under other aspects 
impracticable, and, therefore, to be disapproved. To 
determine whether it was so or not, would seem 
to have been, in his view, the object of the proposed 
meeting in Boston. In March, 1829, Mr. Adams 
writes : 

" Mr. James A. Hamilton, a few days since, called upon 
me, by order of the President, upon certain matters of public 
concern. He said that, in confirmation of the view I had 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 305 

taken of his father's opinions, at that time, upon the dis- 
union project, there was a letter from him to Mr. Cabot, 
protesting, in the most urgent manner, against it. 

" He called upon me again upon certain business of the 
department. I asked Mr. Hamilton if he could give me the 
date of that letter, which he had mentioned to me, from his 
father to Mr. Cabot. He said he believed he had made a mis- 
take about that letter. It was not from his father, but from 
Mr. Wolcott, giving his father's views upon the subject. He 
then took from his pocket a letter, which he said he had 
received that morning from his younger brother, (John,) and 
from which he read me three or four lines, to this effect, — 
that he had obtained from Mr. Wolcott a very full statement 
respecting Plumer's charge against their father, which it fully 
refuted. I said, I supposed by the term ' charge,' the letter 
meant your statement, that (as you had been informed) Alex- 
ander Hamilton had consented to attend the autumnal meet- 
ing at Boston, in 180i. He said it did. He also said there 
was a letter from his father, written not more than three days 
before his death, to Mr. Sedgwick, urging, with great ear- 
nestness, every consideration in favor of preserving the 
Union." 

It is worthy of remark, that if this statement of Wol- 
cott refuted "Plumer's charge," as it is here called, it 
could only be by showing that Hamilton had refused 
to attend the proposed meeting. This would prove 
that Tracy was misinformed as to Hamilton's answer ; 
but it would also prove that an application had been 
made to him to attend ; and, consequently, that such 

20 



306 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

a meeting was to be held — a conclusion pregnant of 
much which is pertinent to the present inquiry. On 
applying to John C. Hamilton, for a copy of Wolcott's 
statement, he informed me, (December 17th, 1853,) 
that " he neither has, nor knows of any communica- 
tion, or memoir, from Mr. Wolcott, on the subject 
referred to." What has become of this statement 
does not ajDpear. It is difficult to imagine that Mr. 
Adams, whose letter was written the day after his 
interview with James A. Hamilton, could have been 
mistaken in his account of what the latter read to 
him. In the seventh volume of General Hamilton's 
works, (published in 1851,) there is an article pub- 
lished by him, early in 1804, with a view to dissuade 
the Federalists from voting for Aaron Burr as Gov- 
ernor of New York, in which he says that, in New 
England, " causes are leading to an opinion that a 
dismemberment of the Union is expedient ;" and he 
argues that Burr, if elected, might be disposed to put 
himself at the head of this movement, and thus 
become '^ the chief of the Northern portion." Whe- 
ther this was written before or after Hamilton's inter- 
view with Pickering in April, does not appear. The 
reader may perhaps consider the conversation above 
noticed, of Burr with Pickering and Hillhouse, in the 
preceding winter, as some confirmation, however 
slight, of Hamilton's conjecture as to Burr's designs. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 307 

His own opinion of the project appears in a letter, 
dated July 10, 1804, to Theodore Sedgwick. 

" I have had on hand," he says, " for some time, a long 
letter to you, explaining my views of the course and tendency 
of our politics, and my intentions as to my own future con- 
duct. But my plan embraces so large a range that, owing to 
much occupation, some indifferent health, and a growing dis- 
taste to politics, the letter is still considerably short of being 
finished. I will here express but one sentiment, which is 
that dismemberment of our empire will be a clear sacrifice of 
great positive advantages, without any counterbalancing good ; 
administering no relief to our real disease, which is Democ- 
racy, the poison of which, by a subdivision, will only be the 
more concentrated in each part, and consequently the more 
vhulent. King is on his way to Boston, where you may 
chance to see him, and hear from himself his sentiments," 

We here see Hamilton and King ojDposed to dis- 
union, as Adams had found them to be in the pre- 
ceding April. It also appears that what Hamilton 
deemed most important in the long letter to Sedg- 
wick, to which his son James seems, in the conversa- 
tion with Adams, to refer, was this very subject of 
" the dismemberment of our empire." Fearful that 
he should not live to complete that letter, he could 
not withhold from his friend his opinion on this most 
essential point. The disease, which they both lamented, 
was Democracy. This, not being confined to any part 



308 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

of the country, could not be removed by excision. 
Fisher Ames said, a httle later, (January, 1805,) "It 
is the opinion of a few, (but a very groundless opin- 
ion,) that the Union will be divided, and the Northern 
confederacy compelled to provide for its own liberty." 
In his opinion, the evil was incurable. " Our disease," 
he said, (March 10th, 1806,) "is Democracy. Our Re- 
publicanism must die ; and I am sorry for it." The 
letter of Hamilton to Sedgwick is dated two days 
only before his death. That a knowledge of this 
design was among the causes which influenced him in 
accepting the challenge of Burr, is not improbable, 
from what he says of the necessity of preserving 
unsullied his reputation for courage, that he might 
be useful " in those crises of our public affairs, which 
seem likely to happen." With the pistol of Burr 
already at his breast, can we imagine that Hamilton 
invented this plot of " the dismemberment of our 
empire ?" Or, rather, can we doubt that he believed 
in its reality and its imminence ; and that he felt it to 
be his duty, before going forth to the field of blood, 
where one of his sons had perished before him, and 
where he was himself so soon to fall, to dissuade his 
friends from taking part in it ? Other facts in rela- 
tion to the project of 1803-4 might be here adduced ; 
but my object is answered, if I have shown that it 
had an existence, real and palpable, other than " in the 
brains of Mr. Adams and Mr. Plumer j" and that the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 309 

latter, when he spoke of a design to dissolve the 
Union, as being entertained by certain leading men 
in New England, spoke not at random, or from con- 
jecture, but from his personal knowledge of their de- 
signs. Honest in his own ajDprobation of the plan, 
he never doubted that others were equally honest in 
its adoption, though, as he soon afterwards came to 
believe, mistaken in their policy. 

The project of 1803-4 is an instructive incident 
in the history of the country, — a design, formed with 
deliberation, by able, virtuous and patriotic men, 
which, though never carried into effect, was not with- 
out its influence on the conduct of its projectors and 
the course of public measures. The acquisition of 
Louisiana w^as so decidedly popular, even at the 
North, that no effective opposition could be made to 
it. Pleased with the purchase, the people gave them- 
selves no trouble to inquire whether it violated the 
Constitution, or might ultimately change the balance 
of power among the states. The advantages were 
present and undeniable; the evils remote, and, it 
might be, imaginary. This the authors of the dis- 
union scheme would have seen, and have forborne, 
perhaps, even to plan and project, if they had not 
been smarting, at the time, under the sore mortifica- 
tion of that signal defeat, which had dashed to the 
earth all their most cherished hopes, and seemed, in 
" the full tide of successful experiment " which fol- 



310 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

lowed Jefferson's advent to power, to be sweeping 
before it, not their hopes and fortunes only, but all 
which they esteemed as best in the government and 
most sacred in the institutions of the country. " Our 
wisdom," said Fisher Ames, "framed a government, 
and committed it to our virtue to keep ; but our pas- 
sions have engrossed it, and armed our vices to main- 
tain the usurpation." " The election of Mr. Jefferson 
to the Presidency was," says John Q. Adams, " upon 
sectional feelings, the triumph of the South over the 
North ; of the slave representation over the free. 
On party grounds, it was the victory of professed 
Democracy over Federalism, of French over British 
influence. The party overthrown was the whole 
Federal party. The whole Federal party was morti- 
fied and humiliated at the triumph of Jefferson." 
Hence the reason, at once, and the apology for the 
earnest opposition which they waged to the leading 
measures of his administration. Unsuccessful in this 
opposition, it is not strange that, in the shipwreck of 
their fortunes, some able men among them, pro- 
foundly impressed with the value of the great 
interests at stake, and seeing no hope of relief by a 
change of measures, while the South, with its slave- 
holding influence, continued to govern the country, 
should have regarded disunion as, in the last resort, 
the only sure deliverance from the evils which they 
already felt, and the yet greater which they feared. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 311 

That they mistook the remedy, we may well believe ; 
but history, in recording their error, will do justice to 
their motives. History, indeed, is full of such mis- 
taken remedies for real or imaginary evils, — the 
impracticable schemes of honest, but disappointed, 
and thence short-sighted politicians, — " fears of the 
brave and follies of the wise." Though, now that 
the feelings and the apprehensions which gave rise 
to such designs have passed away, we may regard 
them with disapprobation, or with regret, we can 
neither doubt their existence, nor disbelieve the 
accounts of those who were acquainted with, or con- 
cerned in them. 

The subject of these latter pages has been, in cer- 
tain respects, an unpleasant one to me, as it may be 
to some of my readers. But it could not be avoided. 
The path of duty was plain before me. The charac- 
ter of Mr. Plumer had been most vehemently assailed 
in this matter, and the truth of his statements loudly 
denied ; and that, too, with an imposing array of 
names, and a weight of character, which demanded 
and even challenged reply. It was not for his biog- 
rapher, under such circumstances, to shrink from an 
exposition of the facts, which repel that assault, and 
place his veracity, in this case, as it justly is in all 
others, beyond question or reproach. This exposition 
has been made in no unfriendly spirit towards the 



312 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

living or the dead, and with no imputation on any 
one of ungenerous or unmanly motives. The same 
spirit will be preserved in what follows, in subsequent 
chapters, on this subject of disunion. I have here, 
as in other cases, quoted, and shall continue to quote, 
though at the expense of some prolixity, the words 
of the persons whose opinions I would represent, 
rather than run the risk of mistaking their meaning, 
by attempting to express it in my own language. 
Nor have I, by detaching them from the context, 
knowingly given them a meaning, in any case, differ- 
ent from that which they were intended to express. 
I have here, as elsewhere, added the dates, both as 
furnishing references, and as connecting the words 
quoted with contemporaneous events, often necessary 
to their full understanding. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SENATOR,— (CO^'TINUEDO 

Returning from the heated atmosphere of Wash- 
ington, hi the sprmg of 1804, with the excited 
feelings of an eager pohtician, Mr. Plumer felt sensi- 
bly the indifference of many of his Federal friends 
to the course of public events. Governor Oilman 
had been re-elected in March ; but a majority of both 
Houses was Republican, and that party looked with 
confidence to the next trial of strength to give them 
the entire control of the state. Under these circum- 
stances, many Federalists were disposed to give up 
the contest in despair ; but Mr. Plumer attached too 
much importance to the questions at issue, to allow 
any doubt of success to relax his efforts. Members 
of Congress were to be chosen in August, and Elec- 
tors of President and Vice-President, in November- 
He thought it of great importance that New England 
should preserve its Federalist representation in Con- 
gress, and retain the party supreme in the state gov- 
ernments. ( He took the most active measures, there- 
fore, to bring out the whole Federalist strength at the 
August elections. Associating; with himself five other 



314 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

persons, one from each county, he organized them 
into a self-constituted State Committee. Under this 
committee, of which he was chairman, count}^ com- 
mittees were formed, and under these, town and 
school district committees, whose duty it was to bring 
every Federal voter to the polls, and secure, as far as 
possible, the wavering and doubtful to their ranks. 
Similar political arrangements have since become not 
uncommon; but this is believed to have been the 
first instance, in this state, in which a systematic 
attempt was made to bring the whole force of a 
party, thoroughly organized, to bear with undivided 
weight on the result of an election. Newsj)apers 
were j^rovided for gratuitous distribution ; and post- 
riders employed to distribute them in every part of 
the state. ) Among other things, it was voted by the 
central committee, to have an address written and dis- 
tributed, in a pamphlet form, among the people, and 
the chairman of the committee and Judge Smith were 
requested to prepare it. Smith, however, declined 
writing any part of the address, on the ground, that, 
it was necessary for him, as Chief Justice of the Su- 
perior Court, whatever might be his real feelings, to 
preserve an appearance, at least, of impartiality, 
which, he said, he could not do if known to have 
written an electioneering pamphlet. This threw the 
labor of the address on the chairman of the com- 
mittee ; who, though accustomed to public speaking, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 315 

had never written any thing for pubUcation, beyond 
an occasional newspaper paragraph. He, however, 
set himself to the task with his accustomed zeal and 
activity ; and six thousand copies were printed, and 
distributed in every town of the state, on the 18th of 
August, a few days only before the election. This 
address was republished in many Federal papers, both 
in and out of the state, and was undoubtedly among 
the chief agencies in deciding the election in favor of 
the Federalists, by an average majority of eight hun- 
dred votes. 

It is easy, in looking at this document, to see that 
the subject uppermost in the mind of the author was 
the unequal, and, he thought, unjust operation of the 
measures of the general government, as then admin- 
istered, on the rights and the interests of New Eng- 
land. After a brief, but able examination and defence 
of the Federalist administrations of Washington and 
Adams, and a comparison of them with the Republican 
one of Jeiferson, not at all to the advantage of the 
latter, he proceeds to point out the unequal burdens 
imposed on the Northern States, by the measures of 
the party then in power ; and traces all the evils suf- 
fered to the existence of slavery in the South, and 
its representation in Congress. This slave representa- 
tion, equal to that of six whole states, had made 
Jefferson President ; and had carried, by its vote in 
Congress, almost every measure of which the free 



316 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

states could justly comj)lain. Banish the slave repre- 
sentation from the government, and Federalists would 
still be in the majority. That this slave power favors 
the South, at the expense of the North, is shown by 
an examination of the leading measures of the 
administration, in respect to the army and navy, the 
duties on foreign goods, the navigation acts, the policy 
pursued towards the Indians, the purchase of Louisi- 
ana, the post office, the hospital money, and the 
appointments to office. " The voice of New England 
is not now heard in Congress," he says. "Virginia 
'influence directs every measure of the government. 
It has broken down and destroyed every man who 
has been opposed to it, whatever his politics may 
have been." While the author disavows any design 
to dissolve the Union, the whole strain of his argu- 
ment goes to show that such a measure would be for 
the advantage of the Northern States. This obvious 
tendency of the address, though disclaimed by the 
writer, was so strongly felt by others, that the answer 
which the ablest of his opponents made to it, was 
introduced by extracts from Washington's Farewell 
Address, on the value of the Union. 

Encouraged by his unexpected success in the Con- 
gressional election, the author entered with equal 
zeal into the Presidential canvass. The same machin- 
ery was again put in ojDeration, and he wrote and 
published in the newspapers six numbers, under the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 317 

signature of " Cato," on the character of JNIr. Jeffer- 
son and his pretensions to the Presidency. They 
were made np Largely of extracts from the writings 
of Jefferson ; and their object was to show, that little 
reliance was to be placed on his judgment, or his sin- 
cerity, since he had, at different periods, advocated 
the most opposite and contradictory opinions. The 
subjects, respecting which his conduct and opinions 
were thus examined, were the naturalization of for- 
eigners, the encouragement of domestic manufac- 
tures, commerce, the navy, the judiciary, religion, the 
Presidential election of 1801, and his appointments 
to office. In all of these, he found the usual, and, as he 
thought, much more than the usual inconsistencies of 
unscrupulous politicians, professing in theory, or while 
in opposition, opinions which, in practice, or while in 
office, they renounce or disregard. He thought ill of 
Jefferson's politics, and worse of his morals. V^IIis 
•effiDrts were, however, of little avail with the public. 
The opposition was daily losing ground. New Hamp- 
shire voted, by a majority of five or six hundred, for 
Jefferson's re-election. ) Massachusetts did the same ; 
and the Federal candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 
ney, received only fourteen electoral votes out of one 
hundred and seventy-six in the whole Union. 

This triumphant re-election of Mr. Jefferson, pro- 
duced a great change in my father's mind, not as to 
the measures of the President, but as to the policy of 



318 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

further combined opposition to them. Connecticut 
alone, of the Northern States, had voted against 
Jefferson's re-election. Her nine votes, with the three 
of Delaware, and two from Maryland, constituted, on 
this occasion, the whole strength of the opposition. 
Was it good policy in the Federal party, any longer 
to keep up its feeble and unavailing opposition ? 
As to dissolving the Union, with Democracy ascend- 
ant in every state but one at the North, there was 
of course nothing more, at this time and under these 
circumstances, to be said or done. He had, even 
before the result of this election was known, become 
convinced that, however desirable such a measure 
might be, it was, at this time, impracticable ; and 
he was not long in reaching the yet more important 
conclusion, that the design itself was founded on a 
mistaken view of the true interest of even the 
Northern States, and, therefore, ought never to be 
entertained. From this time, without changing ma- 
terially his general views of policy, as to the measures 
of the government, he felt no longer the strong 
directing motives, which had before governed his 
procedure, and came by degrees to look, first with in- 
difference, and afterwards with aversion, on projects 
which had before seemed to him important, as means 
for the attainment of objects which he no longer 
regarded as desirable. The first effect of this dis- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 319 

appointment was to lead him to despair of the per- 
manency of a free government, 

" More than half my time," he writes, " since the adjourn- 
ment of Congress, has been devoted to the elections. Can a 
government which requires so much, and such unremitted 
attention to support it, long continue ? I feel weary ; but I 
consider it my duty to continue my efforts. I have ever con- 
sidered the existence of freedom here, as depending on the 
prevalence of Federalism. Perhaps I may have been, in this 
respect, in an error. Must we travel, as other states have done 
before us, through Democracy to despotism ? But I will not 
despair — too much wisdom is painful — it conjures up too 
many evils which, after all, may be but imaginary. I write 
this at the moment, (October 22, 1804,) of packing my clothes 
for Washington." 

It was with these views that he once more took 
his seat (November 5th, 1804,) in the Senate. The 
state of his feelings in this respect may be inferred 
from a letter (November 20th,) which he wrote to 
me: 

" I feel less interest in politics than I did the last year. 
The decline of Federalism in the East convinces me that 
Democracy must overrun us. As I can do little good by 
being active, in the present state of parties, I think I ought 
to be more quiet ; and that this will have a tendency to cool 
down the rage of party, and thereby bring our people to a 



320 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

state of reflection and consideration. I do not mean that I 
have, in the least, changed my political creed. I am still a 
Federalist. I shall, on all occasions, when I am obliged to 
act, act openly, and according to my opinions. But I think, 
when I return home, if I find New Hampshire revolutionized, 
as I fear it will be in March, that I shall avoid the subject of 
politics, and not furnish, by my conversation, fuel for the fire 
of Democratic rage. Let them rule without opposition ; they 
will the sooner divide ; and the sooner be prepared for a better 
state of things, inwdiich virtuous men wall again be called to 
office." 

Though the violence of his Federalism had passed 
its culminating point, and he saw both the folly of dis- 
union, and the hopelessness of Federalist ascendency, 
his opposition to the Jeffersonian policy was not at 
this time sensibly abated. The leading measure of 
the session, the impeachment of Samuel Chase, one 
of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, touched him at a tender point. He had always 
attached great importance to the independence of 
the judiciary ; and the avowed object of the admin- 
istration, was to render the judges dependent on the 
popular will. Mr. Giles, the administration leader in 
the Senate, said to him, in conversation: " We are to 
sit in this case as a Senate, not as a court, and to 
use the same discretion in the trial, as we do in legis- 
lation. We have authority to remove a judge, if 
he is disagreeable in his office, or wrongheaded, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 321 

opposed to the administration, though not corrupt in 
conduct. Judges ought not to be independent of the 
co-ordinate branches of the government ; but should 
be so far subservient, as to harmonize with them in 
all the great measures of the administration." He 
avowed substantially the same opinions in debate in 
the Senate. This was saying, in effect, that if a judge 
delivered an erroneous opinion — erroneous in the 
view of the Senate — he might be impeached and 
removed from office, as guilty of high crimes and 
misdemeanors. Samuel Chase was one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence, and is said to 
have been the man who first startled the ear of 
Congress, still fearful of extremes, with the daring 
declaration that he no longer owed allegiance 
to the British king. Bold, resolute and decisive, 
alike in conduct and in language, he knew no com- 
promises of opinion ; and had little regard for the 
feelings or the wishes of his opponents. A sound 
lawyer and an able judge, he carried the prejudices 
of the party politician with him to the bench, and 
had thus made himself peculiarly obnoxious to the 
dominant party, by what they regarded as error of 
opinion, aggravated by insolence of demeanor. The 
impeachment now brought against him was founded 
on his conduct in the trial of Fries, for treason, 
and Callendar, for a libel, in 1800, and on one of 
his charges to a grand jury, in Maryland, in 1803. 

21 



322 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

In these cases the judge, who was a zealous Feder- 
alist, was accused of having allowed party feelings to 
pervert his judgment and govern his decisions, " to 
the subversion of justice, and the disgrace of the 
character of the American bench." The trial com- 
menced on the 9th of February, and continued, with 
little intermission, till the 1st of March. It was 
remarkable, alike for the importance of the principles 
involved in the issue, the dignity of the court, the 
high standing of the accused, the power of his 
prosecutors, and the learning and ability of his coun- 
sel, not less than from the singularity of the fact, that 
the President of the Senate, who presided with such 
mingled ease, grace and authority at the trial, was 
himself then under indictment for murder, and was 
afterwards tried for his life on a charge of treason 
against the United States, — the very crime for which 
Chase had tried Fries, and in which trial he was 
accused of having committed some of the offences 
for which he was himself now arraigned. \^Mr. Plumer 
took great interest in the trial of this impeachment ; 
and his letters, journals and memoranda contain a 
full account of the proceedings. A few extracts are 

aU we have room for in this place. ] 

/ " 

" Though, during the trial, I did not visit Judge Chase, 
yet, on my accidentally falling in company with him, he said 
that, if this impeachment had been brought against him twenty 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 323 

years ago, he should have considered it the most fortunate 
event of his life. It would have made him President of the 
United States. But he was now old, and grievously afflicted 
with the gout, and he feared the prosecution would break 
him down. Yet, conscious of his innocence, he defied the 
Senate to convict him on any of the charges brought against 
him by the House. The trial was about half through, when 
he was seized with a fit of the gout, and obtained liberty of 
the Senate to return home. His counsel were vastly superior, 
in talents and legal attainments, to the managers appointed by 
the House. I took full notes of the testimony, arguments 
and authorities on both sides. Though the trial was long and 
fatiguing, yet, from its novelty and importance, it was very 
interesting. It engrossed my unremitting attention for more 
than twenty days. [The public felt a deep interest in the 
result. Our galleries were crowded with gentlemen and ladies 
of distinction, not only from the vicinity, but from distant 
parts of the country. The Senators, during the trial, did 
not converse much with each other respecting its merits ; but 
each appeared to form an opinion for himself, without attempt- 
ing to influence others. There was a full Senate, when the 
final vote was taken ; and each Senator voted separately on 
each article. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, after hearing the 
testimony, was taken sick, and confined to his chamber. The 
mode of proceeding being settled, the Vice-President requested 
the Senate to wait a moment for one of its members. Mr. 
Tracy was brought in on a couch, and led to his seat, where 
he continued for two hours, till every question was decided. 
The appearance of a sick man, with a very pale countenance, 
added to the solemnity of the proceeding, and made a deep 



324 LIFE OF WILLIAM TLUMER. 

impression on tlie Senate, the House and the crowded specta- 
tors of the scene. Though I considered Judge Chase as hav- 
ing, in some few instances, been guilty of intemperance of 
language, and imprudence of conduct, unbecoming the char- 
acter of a Judge, his conduct, even in these cases, would 
not have prevented my voting for his appointment as a Judge, 
if that had been the question before us nmuch less would it 
justify his conviction, as guilty of high crimes and misde- 
meanors. My vote, therefore, was, on each article, not guilty. 
On one of the articles, every 'Senator voted not guilty ; on 
four others, a majority acquitted him ; and on the other three, 
' a majority found him guilty. But, as it required two-thirds 
to convict him, the President pronounced him acquitted on all 
the charges; and the court adjourned without day. This 
acquittal of Judge Chase was a great point gained in support 
of the Constitution, and the independence of the Judges. -A 
prosecution commenced in the rage of party, and impelled by 
the whole influence of the administration, was arrested ; and, 
to the honor of the accused, he owed his acquittal to the votes 
of his political enemies. Immediately after the Senate had 
pronounced judgment in the case, Randolph, in the House, 
made a violent harangue against both the Jvidge and the 
Senate, and moved to amend the Constitution, so as to make it 
the duty of the President, on the address of Congress, to 
remove the judges from offlce. Nicholson, another of the 
managers, proposed that the Legislature of each state should 
have authority, at any time, to recall its Senators. But the 
administration, and a majority of the House, disaj)proved of 
these violent measures, and they were rejected." 



\ 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 325 

My father attached the more importance to the 
result of this trial from the belief, then general with 
the Federalists, that the attack on Chase, if success- 
ful, would have been followed by other impeach- 
ments, which would have ended, either in removing 
all the judges, or, if they remained on the bench, 
in rendering them subservient to the wishes of the 
administration. He considered the impeachments 
of Pickering and Chase as " parts of a vicious sys- 
tem, wdiich extends to the removal of every Federal 
judge from both the Supreme and inferior Courts." 
But the acquittal of Chase, the most obnoxious and 
assailable of the judges, put an end to all such de- 
signs. " Impeachment," said Mr. Jefferson, "is a farce 
which will not be tried again." He had, while the 
trial was still pending, (January 5th, 1804,) told Mr. 
Plumer, " that he regarded impeachment as a bung- 
ling way of removing judges." With reference to this 
trial, my father wrote to me, (March 3d, 1805) : 



" You will hear before this reaches you, that the greatest 
and most important trial ever held in this nation has termin- 
ated justly ; and that the venerable judge, whose head bears 
the frosts of seventy winters, is honorably acquitted. I never 
witnessed, in any place, such a display of learning and elo- 
quence as the counsel for the accused exhibited. They con- 
veyed correct sentiments, and pure principles, in so impressive 
a manner, to intelligent minds from all parts of the Union, 



326 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

as must have a salutary effect on the public, in relation not 
only to the Judiciary, but to the Constitution generally." 

(March 10th, 1805.) '" At Baltimore, I spent an evening 
with Judge Chase and his family. Neither of his sons was 
present ; but three of his daughters were there, the youngest 
perhaps eighteen. The strong, yet tender attachment they 
manifested for him, and the joy they exhibited at seeing me, 
who was at once the friend and the judge of their father, 
made a deep impression on my feelings. The righteous judg- 
ment of the Senate has made the judge and his family as 
happy as such an event can render those who prize reputa- 
tion above life." 

Though still a Federalist, my father was no longer 
anxious to keep up party distinctions. " I did," he 
says, " everything I could, during the session, to re- 
strain and destroy the spirit of party. With this view 
I opposed, and by my opposition prevented, the cele- 
bration of Washington's birth-day by the Federalists, 
who had made it on former occasions a mere party 
festival. This I thought peculiarly imprudent at that 
time, from the unhappy influence it would have on 
the trial of Judge Chase, which was then depending." 
v( To his wife he wrote, (December, 1804) : "Yester- 
day, I dined with the President, and was seated by 
his side. He has improved much in the article of 
dress. He has laid aside the old slippers, red waist- 
coat and soiled corduroy small-clothes, and was 
dressed all in black, with clean linen and powdered 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 32T 

hair. He is very sociable and easy of access, and 
puts his company perfectly at their ease." ) 

Massachusetts had, about this time, proposed an 
amendment of the Constitution, depriving the Slave- 
holding States of their slave representation. This 
amendment had been postponed by the Legislature 
of New Hampshire. In a letter to Wm. A. Kent, 
(December 31st, 1804,) he says, " I was in hopes the 
Court would have decided the amendment proposed 
by Massachusetts. Nothing but gross misrepresenta- 
tion, and the force of party rage, can induce the 
Free States to acquiesce in this negro representa- 
tion." 

To me, speaking of some falsehood reported of him, 
he wrote, (January, 17, 1805 :) 

" In times like these, and indeed at all times, and in all 
nations, those who have discharged their duty to their country 
and their God, have been calumniated. It is unreasonable to 
expect an exemption from the common lot of man. I seek 
the approbation of the well-informed and virtuous ; and I 
know that so long as I act faithfully and prudently ,'I shall 
enjoy their confidence. But, beyond tliis, the honest man 
has a reward which the malice of demons cannot touch, — the 
consciousness of having done his duty. So live, and so con- 
duct, my dear son, as to enjoy the approbation of your own 
mind, and that of high heaven." 



328 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

To J. Smith, (February 7, 1805): "The Senate is 
less divided by the line of Federalists and Democrats 
than I ever knew it before to be. Our divisions 
now arise from other sources, from the merits of par- 
ticular measures, and from local attachments, — from 
Free States and Slave States, commercial and anti- 
commercial." The Senate passed at this session a 
bill providing for the government of the Orleans 
territory. " I voted against it," he says, (February, 
1805,) " because it provides that the territory, when 
it has sixty thousand free inhabitants, shall be 
admitted as a state into the. Union, upon the foot- 
ing of the original states. This provision appears 
to me unconstitutional. I think we cannot admit 
a new partner into the Union, from without the ori- 
ginal limits of the United States, without the con- 
sent, first obtained, of each of the partners compos- 
ing the firm." This opinion he had avowed on the 
first purchase of Louisiana, and he never afterwards 
saw reason to change it. 

With this session expired the term of service of 
Aaron Burr, as Vice-President. I find among Mr. 
Plumer's papers, many notices of this extraordinary 
man. Burr lost, by his conduct in the presidential 
election of 1801, the confidence of the Republican 
party, without gaining the Federalists. In the New 
York election of 1804, he was a candidate for the 
office of Governor; and, by the aid of the Federalists, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 329 

most of whom voted for him, he came near being 
elected. Alexander Hamilton had used his influence 
against him, and Burr imputed his defeat to this 
opposition. This led to the fatal duel, and the death 
of Hamilton sealed the destiny of Burr. Desperate 
in his private fortunes, hated by the Federalists, and 
feared and distrusted by the Republicans, he had no 
longer a home in New York, nor a party in the 
Union. He took his seat, however, in the Senate, 
contrary to the usual practice, on the first day of the 
session. " This," said Mr. Plumer, (November 7, 
1804,) in a letter to John Norris, of Salem, " is the 
first time, I believe, that ever a Vice-President ap- 
peared in the Senate the first day of a session ; 
certainly, the first (God grant it may be the last) 
that ever a man indicted for murder presided in 
the American Senate. We are indeed Mien on evil 
times. To a religious mind, the asf)ect of public 
afiliirs is veiled in darkness. The high office of Pre- 
sident is filled by an infidel ; that of Vice-President 
by a murderer r '^To me, he wrote, November, 1804 : 

" Colonel Burr seems determined to browbeat and cajole 
public opinion. The Federalists treat him with very great 
coldness. Those from New England do not visit him. In 
the Senate chamber, I make a very formal bow as he passes 
me, but hold no conversation with him. His manners and 
address are very insinuating. INIr. Jefferson has shown him 



330 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

more attention, and invited him oftener to his house, within 
the last three weeks, than he ever did for the same time 
before. Mr. Gallatin has waited upon him often at his lodg- 
ings, and one day was closeted with him more than two hours. 
Mr. Madison, formerly the intimate friend of Hamilton, has 
taken his murderer into his carriage, and accompanied him 
on a visit to the French minister. Mr. Giles, the present 
ministerial leader in the Senate, has drawn up a paper 
addressed to Governor Bloomfield, of New Jersey, stating 
that in killing his antagonist in a fair duel Burr was not 
guilty of murder, and requesting the governor to direct a 
nolle prosequi to be entered on the indictment now depending 
in that state. This address was not shown to New England 
Senators. Mr. White of Delaware, to whom it was presented, 
declined signing it. It was signed by many, if not all the 
Democratic Senators present. The Democrats of both Houses 
are remarkably attentive to Burr. What office they can or 
will give him is uncertain. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, said in 
debate : 'The first duel I ever read of was that of David kill- 
ing Goliath. Our little David, of the Bepublicans, has killed 
the Goliath of Federalism, and for this I am willing to reward 
him,' They know their man, and will not choose to trust him 
unnecessarily .' y 

To James Sheafe, he writes, (January, 1805) : 

*'When Judge Chase appeared before the Senate, Burr 
would not suffer a chair, which had been provided for him, 
to remain, but ordered it away. The judge was obliged to 
solicit a seat, and was interrupted, and treated with a degree 



LIFE OF WILLIAM. PLUMER. 331 

of rudeness, not to have been expected from so courtly a man 
as the Vice-President. His anxiety to please the Democratic 
party certainly made him, on this occasion, overact his part ; 
not at all to the satisfaction of the more moderate among 
them." 

To his wife, he writes, (March 2d, 1805) : 

" Mr. Burr has taken his final farewell of the Senate. His 
address would have done honor to a better heart. It was 
delivered with great force and propriety, and, as he bowed 
and retired, we were all deeply affected, and many shed tears. 
The Senate passed unanimously a vote of thanks, approving of 
his official conduct as Vice-President. I condemn as cordially 
as any man living his fatal rencontre with Hamilton, on the 
Jersey shore, in July last ; but his official conduct in the Sen- 
ate, for the last three years, has fully met my approbation. 
To acknowledge this, in my public capacity, was a debt justly 
due from me, and I have paid it cheerfully. To-morrow, at 
half-past ten in the evening, I shall take my departure from 
this place. Anxious, as I am, to embrace again my family 
and friends at home, I part with regret from dear friends 
here, many of whom I shall probably never behold again. 
May He whose tender mercies extend to the lily of the valley, 
and the feeble sparrow of the field, protect you and our dear 
offspring." 

Mr. Plumer found, on his return, that the Repub- 
licans had carried the state, at the March elections. 



332 LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 

as lie had predicted they would. , To Uriah Tracy, 
he writes, (May 2d, 1805) : 

" Democracy lias obtained its long expected triumph in 
New Hampshire. John Langdon is Governor elect. His 
success is not owing to snow, rain, hail, or bad roads, (the 
iisiial excuses for Federal failures,) but to the incontrovertible 
fact, that the Federalists of this state do not compose the 
majority. ) Many good men have grown weary of constant 
exertions to support a system, whose labors bear a close affinity 
to those of Sisyphus. They feel disposed to attend to their 
own affairs, and leave those of the state to philosojihers, who 
can dissect the wing of a butterfly or the proboscis of a 
mosquito, and arc, therefore, well qualified to make and 
administer the laws. In Massachusetts, Strong will be 
re-elected ; but Sullivan presses hard in his rear. That Com- 
monwealth must soon follow New Hampshire. It will be 
reserved for Connecticut to preserve her steady Jiali/s yet a 
little longer. MutahiUtij is one of the iwrmancnt laws of 
nature ; or, as our learned friend from South Carolina says, 
' man is man.' And now a word as to my dear self. I have 
discontinued most of my newspapers, and devote my time and 
money to more useful works, principally history. I labor 
with my hands on my farm as much as four hours a day, and 
spend the residue in reading, writing and conversation. This 
change of studies is productive of more substantial pleasure 
than a knowledge of the fleeting events of the day can aflford. 
The exercise is necessary to my health, which, thank Heaven, 
continues good." 



I 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 666 

The last of his children was born about this time. 
He thus states the fact in his Register : " On the Jifth 
day of the Ji/th month, in the ffth year of the nine- 
teenth century, I had a Ji/th son born. These cir- 
cumstances induced me to call his name Quiniusr 
The next entry on this subject, is, (May 29th, 1805,) 
This day my son Quintus died in my arms, having 
lived only five times /ye days." This remarkable con- 
concurrence of fives in the incidents of his birth and 
death, is commemorated on his gravestone, in an 
inscrijDtion which, from its singularity, has found its 
^ay into several collections of epitaphs. 

Mr. Plumer passed the summer and autumn in the 
society of his friends, and in the labors of the farm, to 
which he was always attached. The approaching ses- 
sion of Cono-ress called him ag;ain to Wasliino;ton. 
Under date of November 17th, 1805, he says: 

" Late in the afternoon I left my house for the seat of gov- 
ernment. The regret, accompanied with tears, which my 
family showed, made the parting very painful. My wife was 
so much affected that she could not dine with us. 18th. I 
was the only passenger in the stage from Exeter to Haverhill. 
The melancholy occasioned by leaving my flimily still clouds 
my mind. 19th. I walked to Cambridge, three miles, to 
visit my son. My children now engross my affections. Every 
month affords me new proofs of my attachment to them. I 
converse with William as with a companion ; and he, in turn, 
makes me his confidant. I felt sad at parting with him. In 



334 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the evening I walked back to Boston. 20th. Took my seat 
in the mail stage, crowded with passengers, among whom 
were Nelson, Thompson, and Tenney, all members of Con- 
gress. We arrived at Providence early in the evening. My 
spirits were much animated by meeting my friends Bourne 
and Hunter of Rhode Island. 21st. Rode to New London, 
22d. Arrived at New Haven. 23d. Stage so much crowded 
as to be very uncomfortable. Early in the evening arrived at 
Rye. 24th. Arrived at the City llotel in New York. I 
immediately entered my name in the mail stage for Philadel- 
phia ; and having dined, I stepped into the ferry boat, and, in 
ten minutes, crossed the North River. No one was with me 
in the stage, till I arrived at Brunswick, and then only a 
young Briton. The day and night were stormy ; but I had 
not a wet thread. 25th. At 8 o'clock, A. M., I arrived at 
Philadelphia but little fatigued. 26th. I was the only person 
who took the mail stage at 9 o'clock, A. M., for Baltimore. 
At half-past ten, P. M., passed, in a small boat with the mail 
only, the Susquehannah, and supped at eleven at Havre de 
Grace, in Maryland. There is only one other line of stages 
on this road. 27th. At 7 o'clock, A. M., arrived at Balti- 
more. At ten, took my seat with two other passengers for 
Washington, where I arrived at seven, P. M. In thirty-four 
hours I have safely performed a journey of more than one 
hundred and fifty miles, much less fatigued than I had reason 
to fear." 



Here is the story of ten days' hard travel, in the 
mail stage, from New Hampshire to Washington, 
some of the way with one passenger, once or twice 



» 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 335 

crowded, there being on the route only one other 
line of stages! 

The battle of Trafalgar had given England, at this 
period, the undisputed dominion of the sea; while the 
successes of Napoleon made France no less formidable 
on the land. The effect of this sudden accession of 
strength was to render both these powers indifferent 
to the good will of other nations, and ready, on 
the slightest pretence, to violate their rights. The 
encroachments of both on the neutral and other 
rights of the United States, together with the difficul- 
ties with Spain growing out of the Louisiana treaty, 
formed the chief objects of attention with the govern- 
ment at this time. Many of the proceedings of Con- 
gress on these subjects were in secret session. I find 
frequent allusions to them in the letters and journals 
of this period. The extracts which follow relate prin- 
cipally to these subjects. 

December 1st, 1805 : 

" The Eastern States have an interest different from that of 
the Southern, and I really wish we might support that inter- 
est ; not, indeed, in such a way as would endanger the peace 
and happiness of the Union. In Virginia, a Federalist is still 
a Virginian ; but in New England, a Federalist does not feel 
or act as a New Englander." 

December 3d, 1805 : 



336 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

" The President's message is more energetic and warlike 
than any he ever before sent to Congress. The state of the 
nation seems to demand it." 

I December 15th: 

" O. Cook, a member from Maine, told me that he had seen 
a private letter from James Bowdoin, our minister at Madrid, 
in which he writes that the French court would persuade 
Spain to settle our differences Avith that nation, to our full con- 
tent, if we would make a present of a handsome sum of money 
to France. Samuel Smith, Senator from Maryland, told me 
in confidence, that our government would purchase of France 
and Spain their title to the Floridas. Our Federal gentlemen 
generally decline visiting the Republican members, and so 
vice versa. I visit my political opponents freely, converse 
with them, avoid disputes, and obtain much useful information 
from them, j My rule is to ask many questions, t(^ converse 
cautiously and negatively on important subjects, and to dis- 
play, on subjects not important, much frankness. Whenever 
I answer a question, I do it correctly ; for I abhor duplicity. 
But a politician is bound to act cautiously, and not less to be 
on his guard in conversation with his opponents." 

He took strong ground in opposition to purchasing 
lands of the Indians; both in justice to the Indians 
themselves, whom he considered as generally defraud- 
ed in these treaties, and from a desire to prevent the 
too rapid extension of our settlements, and the con- 
sequent dispersion of our people. He voted, during 
his whole term of service, against nearly all Indian 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 337 

treaties ; and on that with the Cherokees, ratified at 
this time, (December 19th, 1805,) his vote was the 
only one in the negative. To John Langdon he 
writes, December 16th: 

" Against Great Britain we have serious complaints for the 
spoliations committed on our commerce. It will be difficult 
to adjust these ; for the measures of that nation are parts of a 
premeditated system, to which she tenaciously adheres. Spain 
refuses to make compensation for spoliations committed on 
our commerce ; and we have even more serious difficulties 
with her respecting the boundaries of Louisiana. Spain is 
weak, and her colonies in America are very accessible to us. 
But, in case of a war, I have no doubt France would support 
Spain against us. 

To Thomas Lowndes of South Carolina, he writes, 
December 30th : 

" The President's message is more bold and manly than 
what we have been accustomed to hear from this administra- 
tion. The spirit of the people demands energetic measures. 
It is confidently asserted that the administration is divided 
upon the measures which we ought to pursue both with Great 
Britain and Spain. In this desert city we have little company. 
The Tunisian ambassador, and the chiefs and warriors of some 
Indian tribes, who are now here, serve to attract curiosity for 
a day ; but we want society, which cannot be obtained in 
this place." 

22 



338 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

, January 1st, 1806 : 

" The Federalists generally declined calling on the Presi- 
dent to-day with the compliments of the season, on the ground 
that they have not been invited to dine with him this session. 
I thought it a respect due from me to him as President, and 
therefore went. Mr. Adams, General Chittenden, and Mr. 
Taggart, were the only Federalists who attended the levee. 
I will never yield implicit obedience to the will of any man 
or party .y I see much to approve, and much to condemn, in 
all parties. The course which I pursue must, and shall be, 
one that my judgment approves. I am determined, as a pub- 
lic man, to support every measure which to me appears right, 
let the party, or the motives of the man, who brings it forward 
be ever so wrong." 

The House had passed, in secret session, a bill 
granting the President two millions of dollars for the 
extraordinary expenses of the foreign intercourse, in 
other words, for the purchase of the Floridas -, and 
this bill was now before the Senate. It was opposed 
by the vote of every Federal Senator, and did not 
receive the support of all the Republicans. Bradley 
of Vermont denounced it as intended to purchase 
men in Europe, rather than a province in America. 
Mr. Plumer's Register contains reports of the secret 
debates in the Senate, on this and other subjects con- 
nected with the foreign intercourse of the country. 
But their discussions belong to the history of the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 339 

countiy, rather than of the individual, and are there- 
fore not quoted here. January 2d, 1806, he says : 

"Mr. Jefferson intends to purchase the Floridas. The 
present clamor for warlike preparations, and the publication 
of supposed aggressions committed three years since, are made 
now to prepare the public for the purchase of the Floridas. 
I am assured, from high authority, that France will sell and 
guarantee both the Floridas to us for seven millions of dollars. 
At present I do not see any cause either for war or the pur- 
chase of more territory." 

On the resolution requesting the President to open 
negotiations with Great Britain on the subjects of 
dispute between the two countries, Mr. Plumer voted 
in the negative, on the ground that it is the duty of 
the President, and not of the Senate, to institute 
negotiations with foreign powers; and that, if the 
request is to be regarded as a command, it is an 
encroachment on the rights of the executive, while if, 
on the other hand, the President is at liberty to dis- 
regard it, the act is not merely useless, but exposes 
the Senate to contempt by the assumption of an 
authority which it has no means or ability to enforce. 

" I have full evidence," he adds, " that Mr. Jefferson has 
no wish or desire to involve the country in a war. It is, and 
has long been, his intention to negotiate. But he wished to 
remove from himself to the Senate, the responsibility of form- 



340 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

ing a commercial treaty with Great Britain. He knew that 
the old one (Jay's,) occasioned much clamor, and had rendered 
a former administration unpopular. He, therefore, wished the 
Senate to place him in a situation that would not only justify, 
but render it necessary for him to treat. Many of his friends 
in the Senate were brought with difficulty to vote for the reso- 
lution. The Federal gentlemen, on the contrary, . were all 
zealous for the measure. I was the only Federalist who 
voted against it. They wished to place the President in a 
situation where he would be bound not only to treat, but to 
adopt Jay's treaty, — a treaty which he and his friends had 
formerly branded with every odious epithet." 

February 20th : 

" I voted against the bill interdicting the trade with St. 
Domingo. I am not willing, as a Senator of this free and 
sovereign nation, to receive orders from Napoleon. I will 
never legislate under his threats. The laws and usages of 
nations justify the trade. Our interests urge us to pursue it. 
But a majority of the Senate decided otherwise. Several 
southern Senators said that the only thing which reconciled 
them to the bill was the fatal influence which the independence 
of the Haytiens would have on their own slaves." 



March 5th: Vt ^^ 

"Mr. Randolph, long the administration leader in the House, 
has been for some time disaffected ; and he came out yester- 
day and to-day, in a most bitter philippic against the President 
and the Secretary of State, in the debate on Grey's resolution 



? 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 341 

to prohibit intercourse with Great Britain. He has fairly- 
passed the Rubicon. Neither Jefferson nor Madison can, 
after this, be upon tei"ms with him. He has set them and 
their measures at defiance. The attention of crowded gal- 
leries was fixed upon him. The Senators left their chamber 
to listen to his eloquence. I heard him for nearly two hours 
with very great pleasure. He is certainly a man of very great 
talents, and by far the best speaker in the House. I have, 
from my first acquintance with him, ever considered him as a 
man of strict integrity. But his passions are strong, his pre- 
judices violent and inveterate; and he wants that plain common 
sense, which renders a man at once safe and useful to himself 
and to others." \ 

(^ March 12tli: IV^^ 

" I have for some time been convinced that long speeches in 
the Senate have, in most cases, very little influence on the 
vote. Our number is small, thirty-four when the Senate is 
full. The documents are printed and laid upon our tables ; 
and those of us who examine for ourselves, and do not vote 
on the faith of others, form from them our opinions. Con- 
versation follows, and a free exchange of sentiments. This 
either confirms or changes our previous opinions ; and fixes 
the votes of others, who never give themselves the trouble of 
examination. Some are implicitly led by the administration ; 
others have their file leaders. When a Senator is making a 
set speech, there is seldom a quorum within the bar ; the 
chairs are deserted ; and the question is, in the meantime, 
settled in conversation at the fireside. This conversation is 
often so loud as to interrupt the speaker. Under these cir- 



342 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

cumstances, it is difficult for any man to make an eloquent 
and effective speech, when he knows he is not even listened 
to. Add to this that we have no stenographers, and seldom 
any hearers in the galleries. I therefore make no long and 
not many short speeches. ) Yet, my influence is by no means 
confined to my own vote. I am industrious in all private 
circles, expressing openly and frankly my opinions, and 
assigning my reasons ; and I have frequently full and 
satisfactory evidence that my brother Senators, of all parties, 
have much confidence in my opinions ; for they know that I 
am not governed by party views." 

March 16th, 1806 : 

" It seems now to be agreed that Mr. Jefferson is not to be 
a candidate at the next Presidential election. The disclosure 
of this fact, thus early, is an unnecessary and imprudent letting 
down of his importance. It lessens greatly his influence on 
the government. Most men seek the rising rather than the 
setting sun. ( The more impartially I examine the character 
and conduct o? Mr. Jefferson, the more favorably I think of 
his integrity. I have, I am inclined to think, done him 
injustice in this respect, j !Not that he is a model of wisdom 
or goodness. He has too much cunning for that, and, I 
suspect, no very nice or high sense of moral duty. A man 
of science, an infidel in religion, he is in everything else 
credulous to a fault. He has much. Jine sense, yet little of the 
lila'm common sense, so necessary for the practical statesman. 
Yet he has been, as a politician, eminently successful. How 
is this ? More, it seems to me, by the popularity of his 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 343 

doctrines, than by his strength of personal character, or by 
the practical wisdom of his public measures. These doctrines 
are, some of them, sound, more of them specious, and all of 
them addressed to the self-esteem and pride of the masses. 
He is, i'l theory, at least, eminently democratic, and such 
our people are fast becoming. Federalism has passed away. 
Republicanism is now the favorite designation ; but Democ- 
racy is the true name for the direct, unbalanced, and unlimited 
rule of the many. This is not the government contemplated, 
either by the constitutions of the states or by that of the 
United States. But this is what we are coming to ; and it is 
owing more to Mr, Jefferson than to any other man. How 
far this unmitigated power of the major vote will prove a 
blessing remains to be seen. In the meantime, this possession 
of all power by the people is true only in appearance. The 
real power here, as every where else, is in the hands of a few. 
Jefferson wishes Madison to be his successor. Randolph is 
against Madison, and in favor of Monroe." 

March 28th: 

" This day a bill passed the Senate in favor of the Yazoo 
speculators. I was the only Senator from New England who 
voted against it. But, though deserted by every man from 
New England and every Federalist in the Senate, I never 
gave a vote with a more thorough conviction of its propriety 
than that against this bill." 

April 8th : 

"With John Quincy Adams I am intimate. He is a 



344 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

man of much information, a correct and animated, sj)eaker, — 
of strong passions, and of course, subject to strong prejudices, 
but a man of strict, undeviating integrity. He is not the 
slave of party, nor influenced by names ; but free, inde- 
pendent, and occasionally eccentric." 

April 13th: 

" The ratification of the treaty with Tripoli depended upon 
my exertions, and without them would have failed. By 
those exertions more than one vote was obtained for the 
treaty, which, after all, was barely carried. The Federalists, 
except Mr. Adams and myself, opposed it. Under the 
influence of Eaton's statements, I, at one time, thought the 
treaty a bad one, but subsequent inquiry convinced me that 
it ought to be ratified." 

Against the leading measures of the session, the 
two millions of secret service money, and the partial 
non-intercourse with England, lie had indeed, voted, 
but in no spirit of indiscriminate or factious oppo- 
sition. There were only seven Federalists in the Sen- 
ate, and of these neither Adams nor Plumer could be 
considered as a reliable party man. Yet even this small 
number o-ave some trouble to the President. "Seven 
Federalists," he says, "voting always in phalanx, 
and joined by some discontented Republicans, some 
oblique ones, some capricious, have so often made a 
majority as to produce very serious embarrassments." 
In the House the oj)position was not relatively 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 345 

stronger, thoiigli aided by the accession of Randolph. 
He had, indeed, more talent as a debater, than any 
other member; but he ultimately carried with him 
not more than six or seven Republican votes, — ^so 
entire was the control which Mr. Jefferson retained 
to the last over the movements of the j)arty. Ran- 
dolph was denounced as a Federalist; and the 
powerful administration leader became thenceforth 
the brilliant and sarcastic, but powerless opposition 
orator, fighting, however, always on his own ground, 
with very little concert with others. Four years on i 
the administration side were preceded and followed | 
by a life of opposition. He had, as I heard him say, 
many years after, as great an alacrity in getting into 
an opposition as Falstaflf had in sinking. This was, 
indeed, his true vocation, that of a fault-finder ; and 
there was seldom a time in which his peculiar talent 
in that respect was not in full requisition. Like 
Swift, he had 

*' too much satire in his vein, 
And seemed determined not to starve it, 
Because no age could more deserve it." 

The session closed on the 21st of April, and Mr. 
Plumer reached home on the 30th. May 15th, he 
writes : 

" Visited this week, my friends and acquaintances at Ports- 
mouth, by -whom I was received with much kindness and 



346 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

attention. Called, among others, upon Governor Langdon, 
wlio treated me with much politeness. He is re-elected 
without any real rival, and a large majority of the legisla- 
ture is of his party. All is now calm and quiet in the state. 
The Federalists are silent and submissive. The Democrats 
are obliged to own that the change of men has produced 
little change in public measures. A few men have got offices 
under Langdon, who would not have obtained them under 
Oilman ; and that is all, — much indeed to some of them, even 
a justice's commission, but little to any body else. I was 
never much of a party man, and am becoming less of one 
every day." 

The Republicans were now in full possession of 
the state government; and in June they elected 
Nahum Parker to the United States Senate, for the 
next Congress. Mr. Plumer was not a candidate for 
re-election. "I am," he said, in noticing this event, "too 
much of a Federalist to have Hepublican votes, and 
too much of a Republican deeply to interest Feder- 
alists in my favor." " At the election of members of 
the tenth Congress, August 25th, I attended," he 
says, "the meeting, and voted for a ticket of my own, 
selectino; two Democrats and three Federalists — hon- 
est men and true, moderate, but firm in their opinions 
— men that I should not be ashamed to meet in the 
councils of the nation." This vote for two Democrats 
and three Federalists, though determined chiefly by 
the merits of the individuals selected, was a not inapt 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 347 

representation of liis feelings at this time. He liad 
ceased to feel any strong party attachment, and 
looked to the merits of measures, more than to 
their authors, for the degree of favor with which 
he should regard them. 

His last session in the Senate was now approach- 
ing. It need not detain us long. He took his seat 
on the first day of December, 1806 ; and his term of 
service closed with the session, on the od of March, 
1807. The first measure of the session was an act to 
suspend the operation of the non-importation law of 
the last session. This was on the recommendation of 
the President, who announced the probable conclusion 
of a treaty with England. This treaty was received 
about the close of the session ; but, not being satisfac- 
tory to the President, it was rejected by him, without 
being communicated to the Senate. On this subject 
I find the following entry in my father's Register, 
March 4th, 1807: 

" I called upon the President this morning. He told me 
he had not received the treaty with Great Britain ; but that Mr. 
Erskine, the British minister, had received a copy of it, and 
had politely sent it to him. The President said he disap- 
proved of it, for it contained no stipulation for the protection 
of American seamen ; and that, had he received the treaty ten 
days ago, he should not have laid it before the Senate." 

The movements of Aaron Burr formed, during this 



348 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

session, the most prominent object of curiosity and 
attention, — of alternate wonder, incredulity and 
alarm. What was then doubtful, as to the designs of 
this mysterious conspirator, the lapse of nearly 
fifty years leaves still in obscurity. He had not at 
first despaired of obtaining, from the hopes or the 
fears of the administration, some appointment, which 
should imply his possession of the public confidence. 

:^ **This evening," says Mr, Plumer, (January 15th, 1807,) 
*' my colleague, Nicholas Gilman, told me that Mr. Jefferson, 
a iew days since, informed him that, the last winter, Burr 
made several visits to him, and requested, as he was out of 
employment, that the President would give him some appoint- 
ment, as that of minister to some foreign court ; that at the 
last visit. Burr pressed the subject ; and that the President 
then replied, ' You once had my confidence, but the people 
and myself have now lost the confidence we once had in you. 
I cannot, therefore, gratify you with an appointment.' Burr 
then intimated to the President that he would find that he 
had the power to do him much injury." ) 

He afterwards talked of offering himself for a seat 
in Congress from Tennessee, where it was supposed 
he could be elected. His aims, how^ever, evidently 
pointed at something higher. Desperate in his for- 
tunes, his irregular ambition was now apparently 
seeking its outlet in schemes of conquest and revo- 
lution in the West. His own account of the matter 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 349 

was, that he was building boats, and enlisting men, 
with a view to take possession of a tract of land on 
the Ued River in Louisiana, and to form a settle- 
ment there. By others, including the President, it 
was believed that his object was a dismemberment of 
the Union, and the establishment of an empire in the 
South West; and that with this view he would first 
seize on New Orleans, and thence push his fortunes 
against the Spaniards in Mexico. "He meant," said 
Jefferson, July 14, 1807, "to separate the Western 
States from us, to add Mexico to them, place himself 
at their head, and establish what he would call an 
energetic government." Of this long-dreaded expe- 
dition not much that was tangible ever appeared, 
beyond a few men floating in flat boats down the river 
towards New Orleans. These boats were seized by 
order of the government, and the men were dispersed. 
Burr was afterwards tried in Virginia, before Chief 
Justice Marshall, on a charge of treason, and acquitted 
for want of proof of any overt act. And thus ended an 
enterprise, which was thought for a time to threaten 
the safety of the Union. The subject of this memoir 
was slow to believe in the many rumors which were 
circulated on the subject. 

" We have many reports," he said, December 9th, 1806, 
" but very little correct information, respecting Burr's move- 
ments. I do not know enough of his late conduct to form an 



350 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

opinion as to what are his objects in the "Western States. 
But I am too well acquainted with the man to beheve him 
guihy of half the absurdities ascribed to him. He is capable 
of much wickedness, but not of such folly as they impute 
to liim." 

Yet such is the contagion of example that, under 
the excitement of these rumors, he voted, (January 
23d,) for the bill to suspend for three months the 
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, which passed 
the Senate almost unanimously, but was rejected 
with almost equal unanimity by the House. Sub- 
sequent events showed that there was no occasion 
for this suspension, and he expressed, before the 
close of the session, his surprise and regret at 
having voted for it. 

The most permanently important measure of the 
session was the act prohibiting the importation of 
slaves into the United States, after the first of Janu- 
ary, 1808. Two other measures, of this session, then 
little regarded, have since led to important results, — 
the one an act to provide for surveying the coasts of 
the United States, a survey which, involving great 
expense, and requiring much time, is not yet com- 
pleted ; the other, a call of the Senate on the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury to report at the next session a 
system of internal improvements for the United 
States. This latter was the first step in a series of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 351 

measures, which have since entered largely into the 
civil history of the country, and the course of its 
politics. Mr. Plumer voted for all these acts, fore- 
seeing as little as others the final results to which 
the two latter measures would lead, but deeming 
them clearly within the constitutional powers of the 
government, and conducive to the public good. 

Henry Clay came, for the first time, this session, 
into Congress. I find in Mr. Plumer's papers several 
notices of him. 

December 29th, 1806 : 

" This day, Henry Clay, the successor of John Adair, was 
qualified, and took his seat in the Senate. He is a young 
lawyer. His stature is tall and slender. I had much conver- 
sation with him ; and it afforded me much pleasure. He is 
intelligent, and appears frank and candid. His address is 
good and his manners easy." 

January 2d, 1807 : 

*^ Mr. Clay in the Senate. He appears to be an easy, elo- 
quent and graceful speaker." 

January 12th: 

'* Mr. Clay is a young lawyer, of considerable eminence. 
He came here as Senator, for this session only. His 



352 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

clients, wlio have suits depending in the Supreme Court, 
gave him a purse of three thousand dollars to attend to 
their suits here. He would not be a candidate for the next 
Congress, as it would materially injure his business. But it 
was a convenient and money-making business for him to 
attend this session. This day Henry Clay, and Matthew 
Clay, his uncle, joined the party at our lodgings. They are 
Republicans, and I am glad they have come. I dislike this 
setting up of partition walls between Members of Congress, 
because some are Federalists and others Republicans. The 
more we associate together, the more favorably shall we think 
of each other." 

It had been early an object with Mr. Plumer, to 
bring about this social union at the same boarding- 
house between members of the different parties ; and 
he succeeded, this session, in forming a mess of this 
character, of liberal minded men from both parties, 
much to his satisfaction. Clay came readily into it. 

r 

\ January 23d : 

" Henry Clay told me he thought there was no occasion 
for suspending the writ of habeas corpus ; but the delicate 
situation in which he stood, as late counsel for Burr, would 
not only prevent him from opposing it, but oblige him to 
vote for it, which he did. 



l." \ 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 353 

January 29th: 

"On the second reading of the bill to erect a bridge 
over the Potomac, Henry Clay made an eloquent and forci- 
ble speech against the postponement. He animadverted 
with great severity on Tracy's observations. As a speaker. 
Clay is animated, his language bold and flowery. He is 
prompt and ready at reply, but he does not reason with the 
force and precision of Bayard." 



February 13th: i^^ 7 



" Henry Clay is a man of pleasure ; fond of amusements. 
He is a great favorite with the ladies ; is in all parties of 
pleasure ; out almost every evening ; reads but little ; indeed 
he said he meant this session should be a tour of pleasure. 
He is a man of talents ; is eloquent, but not nice or accu- 
rate in his distinctions. He declaims more than he reasons. 
He is a gentlemanly and pleasant companion ; a man of honor 
and integrity." j 

The followinsr extract shows a state of thino;s differ- 
ent from any which has since existed among the high 
officers of the government at Washington : 

.March 1st: \'^^'^ 



" The Heads of Departments visit few members of either 
House. Mr. Madison, for two or three years past, has 

23 



354 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

entirely omitted even the ceremony of leaving cards at 
their lodgings. He invites very few to dine with him. 
Mr. Gallatin leaves no cards, makes no visits, scarcely ever 
invites a member to dine, or has even a tea party. General 
Dearborn and Robert Smith, Secretaries of War and the 
Navy, leave cards with all the members, but invite few to 
tea, and scarcely any to dine. Mr. Clinton, the Vice-Presi- 
dent, comes to the city in his own carriage, accompanied by 
one of his daughters and a servant ; but lives out at board, 
like a common member ; keeps no table, nor invites any one 
to dine. These gentlemen do not live in a style suited to the 
dignity of their offices." j 

After the close of his senatorial service, though he 
lived more than forty years, Mr. Pliimer never re- 
visited the seat of government. He, however, always 
looked back with satisfaction and pleasure to the time 
which he spent there. With his habits of vigilant 
observation, and his keen insight of character, he had 
acquired a fund of curious anecdotes, and rich stores 
of information, respecting the distinguished men of 
the times, the prominent lawyers and politicians of 
the country, which added, in after years, fresh charms 
to his conversation, abounding, as it often did, with 
curious facts and instructive remarks on life and man- 
ners, derived from this source. Though he found 
there no lawyers whom he deemed superior to his 
old friends and opponents. Parsons, Dexter and Ma- 
son, he formed the acquaintaince of jurists, such as 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 355 

Marshall, Patterson and Chase, on the bench, and 
Martin, Harper, Lewis and Hopkinson, at the bar, 
with others, then noted, but now little known, who 
represented not unworthily the legal profession in the 
courts of the Union. If lawyers are unknown, or 
soon forgotten, the race of politicians is perhaps not 
much longer lived. Yet he associated with many 
there who are not yet quite forgotten, and with some 
whose memory will not wholly perish. He witnessed, 
at his first session, the departing glories of Ross and 
Morris, and, at a later period, the rising splendors 
of Clinton, Clay and Adams. Randolph was at the 
height of his power and popularity, and in the prime 
vigor of his peculiar and eccentric genius. Tracy, 
Griswold, Bayard, Taylor, Giles and Smith were able 
public men, though not brilliant debaters. In the 
Cabinet, Madison was learned in all questions of the 
law of nations ; modest and unassuming, with a fem- 
inine grace of manner ; yet firm and, at times, almost 
stubborn in his opinions ; strong in the powers of a 
clear, discriminating mind, improved by study, and 
enlightened by experience ; yet less expert in the 
arts of policy than his able and adroit colleague of 
the Treasury Department. Sagacious in design, and 
persuasive in manner and address, Mr. Gallatin had 
few equals in his knowledge of human nature, or 
the skill with which he combined the means neces- 
sary for the accomplishment of his designs. In Mr. 



356 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Plumer's opinion, the President owed much of 
the success of his administration to the counsels 
of these two able ministers. Without their restrain- 
ing influence, his brilliant, but less balanced mind 
might have betrayed itself more frequently in such 
vagaries as his scheme of gun-boats and dry-docks, 
or his vision of salt mountains, and in the rancor of 
his personal and political animosities. 



CHAPTER IX 



NEW POLITICAL RELATIONS. 



Retiring from the public service at the age of forty- 
eightj Mr. Plumer did not feel that the labors of his 
life were yet ended. The vigor of his mind was 
unimpaired, and its activity had never been greater. 
"Labor," he said, "is not irksome to me, and I well 
know that the busiest life is also the most happy." 
He did not, however, wish to return to his profession 
as a lawyer. He went, indeed, occasionally into court, 
at the request of an old client ; but he declined busi- 
ness from other persons. His health, though better 
than it had been five years before, was not, in his 
opinion, equal to the labors and the excitements of a 
lawyer in full practice. He had, while at Washing- 
ton, collected a set, nearly complete, of the public 
documents of the government ; and this collection, 
which ultimately extended to four or five hundred 
volumes, was, probably, for the period which it 
embraced, the most nearly complete in the United 
States. So assiduous were his labors in this respect, 
spending days and nights in selecting and sorting his 
materials, from cartloads of useless lumber, piled in 



358 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

obscure vaults^ and rotting in damp and unventilated 
chambers, that scarcely a paper published by Con- 
gress had escaped his research. This collection of State 
papers suggested to him the idea of writing a history 
of the government, from the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence to the close of Mr. Jefferson's administration. 
He afterwards enlarged the plan, so as to embrace a 
general history of the country from its first discovery 
to his own time ; a work, which he justly regarded as 
affording ample occupation for the longest life which 
he could hope to enjoy. He had, however, from the 
first, many misgivings as to his competency for the 
task. " I am," he said, " no scholar. Hardly master 
of my own language, I can read no other. It requires 
much time for me to exj)ress my ideas on paper, so 
as to satisfy myself, though I find that I now compose 
with greater facility than formerly." He began with 
drawing out a sketch, or plan of what his work should 
contain. This extended to seventy-two pages, and 
embraced such a variety of topics as showed that 
little or nothing, deserving notice, had escaped his 
attention. It was evident, however, that he looked 
to law, politics, the civil institutions of the country, 
and the lives and characters of its statesmen and law- 
givers, more than to the movements of armies and 
the incidents of war. 

He had gone so far, before leaving Washington, as 
to converse on the subject with the President, and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 359 

other officers of the government, from whom he 
received promises of assistance, and permission to 
examine the public archives. He now determined 
to devote himself to the work, and to allow no other 
pursuit to interfere permanently with its prosecution. 
The spirit in which he entered on this important 
undertaking was well expressed in a letter (May 1st, 
1807,) to Mr. Jefferson. "It is my first determina- 
tion, like a faithful witness in court, to tell ilie truth, the 
ivhole tridh and nothing hut the truth, regardless of the 
applause or the censure of existing parties. This 
year 1 shall devote to the settling of my pecuniary 
affairs, to arranging my documents and manuscripts, 
and making indexes and references to them. The 
next year 1 hope to commence my work, and to 
spend the winter at Washington, in procuring further 
information from the public offices." 

To John Q. Adams, (July 11,1809,) he writes: 
" My leisure hours are now devoted to my history of 
the United States. I have made but little progress 
in the composition, the rough sketch of my introduc- 
tion being not yet finished. To this work I intend 
sedulously to devote the remainder of m}^ days." 

To tell the truth with the conscientious fidelity of 
a witness under oath, it was, above all things, neces- 
sary that he should first know the truth. With this 
view he entered on a comprehensive course of careful 
and critical reading in American history; resorting 



360 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

to tlie original authorities, in all cases where they 
were within his reach; taking nothing for granted, 
or at second hand, comparing adverse statements, 
sifting authorities, and thus deducing historic truth as 
the slow result of patient investigation. It was not 
till he had gone, in this way, through all the early 
writers, and compared them with the original docu- 
ments, so far as these could be obtained, that he 
commenced the labor of composition. In several 
preliminary chapters, he unfolded, first, the state of 
society in Europe, at the period of the discovery of 
America; and then traced the progress of naviga- 
tion and settlement along the coast, from Canada to 
Florida, down to the first permanent lodgement effect- 
ed by the English in Virginia. He then entered on 
the early history of that colony ; but had made little 
progress in it, when his labors as an historian came 
finally to a close. He had written what would make 
about half a volume of the ordinary octavo size. 
But, while intent upon this history of the past, he did 
not altogether lost sight of the present. His interest in 
passing events grew daily stronger, with the increasing 
aggressions of France and England on the commerce 
and maritime rights of the United States. To explain 
his return to public life, and to trace the new connec- 
tions into which he now entered, we must go back to 
the close of his senatorial term, and thence follow 



i 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 361 

down the course of events to the period of his elec- 
tion as Governor of New Hampshire. 

The administration of Mr. Jefferson, so prosper- 
ous at its commencement, w^as clouded and overcast 
towards its close, by the injustice of foreign powers to 
the United States. This rendered necessary, in the 
opinion of the government, a system of non-inter- 
course and embargo laws, and led finally to a war 
with England. The British order of blockade of May 
16th, 1806, was the cause alleged by Napoleon for 
issuing his Berlin Decree of November 21st, 1806. 
This was followed by the British Orders in Council of 
January 7th, and November 11th, 1807. The Milan 
Decree of Napoleon was dated December 17th, 1807. 
The effect of these British orders and French decrees 
was well-nigh to destroy all neutral commerce, of 
which the largest portion was, at this time, in the 
hands of American merchants. More than a hundred 
millions of American property were swept from the 
ocean, or confiscated in port. With England there 
was the additional question of impressment of seamen 
from American vessels, complicated by the attack on 
the Chesapeake, which took place June 22d, 1807. 
The question presented by this state of things to 
the people of the United States, was, whether they 
should submit in silence to these unjust aggressions ; 
and, if not, in what manner they should be met, and 
repelled. Mr. Plumer's views and feelings on these 



362 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

subjects will be seen in the following extracts from 
his letters and other papers written at the time. 

In a letter to Thomas Cogswell, August odj 1807, 
he says : 

"The conduct of Humphries, the Captain of the Leopard, 
in attacking the Chesapeake, and taking from her, by force, four 
of our seamen, was a direct assault upon our sovereignty. Even 
if they were British subjects, instead of American citizens, that 
would not justify an attack upon the national flag. If the 
British government justifies the conduct of Humphries, we 
ought, and, I trust, shall, declare war against her. I love 
peace ; I would suffer much to preserve it ; but war, with all 
its horrors, is preferable to degradation. One insult, meanly 
submitted to, will necessarily jjroduce another. . The conduct 
of Great Britain towards the United States, for some years 
past, has been hostile. It is sound policy in our government 
to demand an explicit stipulation that our flag, mercantile, as 
well as national, shall protect those who sail under it. If this 
is refused, and war should grow out of our present embarrass- 
ments, I trust we shall maintain it with a spirit worthy of 
freemen." 

To Martin Chittenden, a member of Congress from 
Vermont, and afterwards Governor of that state, lie 
wrote, December 5th, 1807: 

" If the honor and dignity of our nation can be preserved, 
I hope we shall avoid war. I would sooner abandon commerce, 
for a time, than involve our country in the calamities insepa- 
rable from war. Our merchants, in that case, would clamor ; 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 363 

but I would leave them to protect their property by voluntary 
embargoes. If they send their ships to sea, let them do it at 
their own risk, and npt look to the government to be their 
insurers. Yet, as much as I deprecate war, I should prefer 
it to national degradation." 

This idea of letting commerce take care of itself 
was at the time extensively entertained. The mer- 
chants preferred it to an embargo. Trade embar- 
rassed, but not altogether destroyed by orders and 
decrees was, at this time, a game of hazard, in which, 
if the losses were frequent, the gains w^ere enormous. 
War was, indeed, the obvious, almost inevitable 
result of the state of things which then existed ; 
but for this measure the country was not prepared, 
either morally, by a belief in its necessity, or physi- 
cally, by the armaments necessary to carry it on with 
success. The measure adopted was, therefore, that of 
an embargo. This act, December 22d, 1807, was 
defended by its friends on various grounds ; first, and 
most successfully, as a precautionary measure, to se- 
cure our shipping and produce from the grasp of the 
belligerents, till we could prepare for war ; secondly, 
as the best means of compelling France and England 
to respect our rights ; and thirdly, as a withdrawal 
from the scenes of European contest, till the nations 
of Europe should return once more to their wonted 
relations of peace and commerce. Those who sup- 
ported it upon this latter ground, held that the war 



J^ 



> 



364 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

hi Europe would not be of long continuance ; and 
that while it lasted it was our true policy, though at 
the loss of some property, and perhaps of some repu- 
tation for the time, to keep " out of the wind of such 
commotion," — safe at least, if inglorious, within our 
own borders. At an earlier period, Fisher Ames had 
said, (January 27, 1794,) "Though America is rising 
with a giant's strength, its bones are yet but carti- 
lages. By delaying the beginning of a conflict, we 
insure the victory." The great majority, however, of 
those who supported for years the policy of the 
embargo and non-intercourse laws did it upon the 
ground that they would compel both France and 
England ultimately to do us justice; our commerce 
being desirable to* the former, and essential to the 
latter. Mr. Plumer's opinions on this subject were 
expressed in a letter, (dated January 26th, 1808,) 
to Samuel M. ]Mitchell, a member of Congress from 
New York. 

" Our mercliaiits complain of the embargo as a serious 
evil ; it oppresses our seamen, many of "whom are in want of 
bread, and our farmers feel its pressure in the reduced price 
of the produce of their lands. When Congress imposed it, 
they possessed, I presume, information, which it was then 
improper to disclose, but which, if known, would have pre- 
vented prudent men from hazarding their ships on the ocean. 
When, from any source, this danger shall be known to our 
merchants, will the embargo be continued ? Or is it designed 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 365 

to operate against other nations ? If the latter is the object, / 
I fear, while we are chastising others with ivhips, we shall 
be scourging ourselves with scorpions.'" 



In August, 1808, Mr. Plumer voted for the Repub- 
lican ticket for members of Congress, and in Novem- 
ber, for the Madison electors for President. "Though 
Madison Avas not," he says, " the man I should have 
selected for President, had I possessed the sole power, 
I thought him the best man that could be chosen, 
and therefore used my influence, and gave my vote 
for him." In the mean time, the opposition to the 
restrictive policy of the government had become so 
strong, particularly in New England, that Congress, 
at its next session, repealed the embargo, and adopted 
in its place a system of non-intercourse with France 
and England. " The alternative," said Mr. Jefterson, 
" was rfepeal or civil war." " Congress," said Mr. 
Plumer, "apprehended, not without reason, that, if 
they did not repeal the embargo laws, some, if not all 
of the New England States, would recede from the 
Union." ) 

Though, as we have seen, Mr. Plumer did not 
much like the embargo and non-intercourse, or, as it 
was then called, the restrictive system, he thought 
himself bound to support his own government 
against the hostile aggressions of foreign powers; 
and would, therefore, no longer go with his old asso- 



366 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

ciates of the Federal party, in their indiscriminate 
opposition to all the measures of the administration. 
Unsuccessful in their party movements, and exasper- 
ated by their long exclusion from office, they had 
acquired, with the feelings of a minority, the usual 
faults of an opposition. The Republicans, on the 
contrary, had silently Avithdrawn from many of the 
untenable positions which they had originally occu- 
pied; and, under the burdens of government, with 
the responsibilities of office upon them, were saying 
and doing many things which they had formerly con- 
demned, when said or done by the Federal party then 
in j)Ower. Amidst these changes of conduct and 
opinion in the two great political parties, Mr. Plumer 
found himself once more, what he had originally 
been, a supporter of the government; and, above all, 
a ready opponent of every foreign aggression on the 
rights of his country. It was this duty of supporting 
the government in its action against unjust pressure 
from abroad, which formed the chief tie between him 
and the party with which he now acted. Another 
motive, however, perhaps equally strong with him, 
was his belief that certain leading Federalists of New 
England still cherished their old design of a separa- 
tion of the states, lie saw much in the spirit of the 
times and the course of events, calculated to give 
encouragement, if not success, to their exertions in a 
cause, which he had himself once favored, but the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 367 

success of which he now regarded as the greatest 
misfortune which could befall the country. That 
there was danger of this he firmly believed. Nothing, 
indeed, seemed so likely to drive the people of the 
north to the despair which precedes revolt, as the 
annihilation of their commerce, produced by the 
embargo, non-intercourse and other kindred measures. 
The embargo had been pronounced by the highest 
Federalist authorities, legal, executive and legislative, 
to be unconstitutional and void ; and resistance to it 
was alternately threatened and predicted. Threats 
of disunion and civil war were loudly uttered, in 
many quarters, by men of high standing and wide 
influence in the community ; and they were received 
with apparent favor by many, who, in ordinary times, 
would have shrunk from them with abhorrence. Mr. 
Plumer saw, therefore, in the success of Federalism, as 
then organized and directed, great danger to the 
union of the states ; and he believed that this danger 
could be averted only by the triumjDh of the Repub- 
lican, or, as he now regarded it, the national party. 
In. the party sense of the word, he had ceased to be a 
Federalist ; and, as no man can act with effect in 
public affairs, except in connection with others, he 
soon found himself acting with the Republicans, 
against his old associates of the Federal party. In- 
stead, however, of an increased faith in the popular 



368 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

"vvisdom or virtue, his old doubts seem, at this time, 
to have come over him with fresh force. 

" It is a question," he writes, " Avhich I often contemplate 
with gloomy apprehensions, Avhether a government, founded 
upon town meetings, can be permanent. I hope a Republic 
will always exist in this country ; but I fear that our govern- 
ment, like others which have preceded it, will terminate, if 
not in monarchy, at least in one of more energy, and less 
freedom, than the present. Much I fear that a system of 
pure republicanism is too pure, too liberal, and too good for 
human nature. All other republics have ended first in 
anarchy, and then in despotism. What right have we to 
expect an exemption in our favor ?" 

To Nicholas Oilman, then Senator from New 
Hampshire, he wrote, January 24th, 1809 : 

" At no period of my life have I felt more anxiety for my 
country than the present. I apprehend more real danger 
from our own internal divisions than from the belligerent 
powers of Europe. In New England, and even in New 
York, there aj)pears a spirit hostile to the existence of our 
own government. Committees of safety and correspondence, 
the precursors of revolution, are appointed in several towns 
in Massachusetts. Numbers who, a few months since, would 
have revolted with horror at the fatal idea of the dissolution 
of the Union, now converse freely upon it, as an event rather 
to be desired than avoided." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 369 

This fear for the safet}^ of the Union was by no 
means peculiar to Mr. Pknner. The opinion of John 
Q. Adams has ah^eady been noticed. Joseph Story, 
then a member of Congress, and afterwards Judge of 
the Supreme Court, thus writes to a friend, (January 
4th, 1809,) "If I may judge from the letters I have 
seen from the various districts of Massachusetts, it is 
a prevalent opinion there, and in truth many friends 
from the New England States write us, that there is 
great danger of resistance, and great probability that 
the Essex junto have resolved to attempt a separa- 
tion of the Eastern States from the Union ; and that, 
if the embargo continues, their plan may receive 
support from our yeomanry." "The New England 
States," said Lieutenant Governor Lincoln to the 
Massachusetts Legislature, "have been represented 
as ripening for a separation from the Union. Such 
suggestions, we trust, are unfounded. It is to be 
lamented that any color has ever been furnished for 
such alarms. If we must have conflicts, let them 
be with foreign enemies." To this latter suggestion, 
the House of Representatives replied, "Let Con- 
gress repeal the embargo, annul the Convention 
with France, forbid all intercourse with the French 
dominions, arm our public and private ships, and 
imfurl the Republican banner against the Imperial 
standard." November 21st, 1808, Mr. Lloyd said in 
the United States Senate, that if "the embargo was 

24 



370 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

not repealed, the spark of present discontent would, 
he feared, be fanned into a flame of rebellion." 
November 30th, 1808, speaking of the embargo, Mr. 
Pickering remmded the Senate that the revolution, of 
which Boston was the cradle, began in New England; 
and that " one of the reasons assigned for the Decla- 
ration of Independence was the cutting off our trade 
ivith all the worlds This was during the embargo, " an 
act," said Mr. Hillhouse, December 21, 1808, in the 
Senate, " containing unconstitutional provisions to 
which the people are not hound to submit, and to which, 
in my opinion, they tvill not submits " A storm seems," 
he says, "to be gathering, which portends, not a 
tempest on the ocean, but domestic convulsions." 
The Massachusetts Legislature followed up this opin- 
ion, February, 1809, declaring the embargo, "unjust, 
oppressive, and unconstitutional, and not legally binding 
on the citizens of the stated They did not, however, 
recommend forcible resistance to it. In view of these 
movements in New England, De Witt Clinton said, 
(January 31st, 1809,) in the Senate of New York: 
" The opposition in the Eastern States bids defiance 
to the laws, and threatens a dissolution of the Union. 
The match appears to be now lighted to produce an 
explosion wdiich will overwhelm us with all the 
horrors of a civil war." September 27th, 1808, John 
Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush: "The Union I 
fear, is in some danger. If we can preserve it 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 3T1 

entire, we may preserve our Republic ; but if the 
Union is broken, we become petty principalities, 
little better than feudatories, one of France, the 
other of Eno;land," 

Nor was it among heated partizans alone, that 
these views were entertained. "A dissolution of the 
Union," writes Mr. Erskine, the British minister at 
Washington, to his government, (February 15th, 
1809,) "has been for some time talked of, and has, 
of late, as I have heard, been seriously contemplated 
by many of the leading people of the Eastern divis- 
ion." It appeared afterwards that John Henry, a 
British agent from the Governor of Canada, was, about 
this time, at Boston, watching the progress of events, 
and fomenting the popular discontents. As the result 
of his inquiries, he stated to his employers, (March 
Tth, 1809,) that, in case of a war with England, Massa- 
chusetts would give the tone to the neighboring 
states, " invite a Congress to be composed of delegates 
from the Federalist States, and erect a sej)arate 
2;;overnment for their common defence and common 
interest." But this, he says, is " an unpojDular topic, 
the common people still regarding the Constitution of 
the United States with complacency." Writing from 
Boston, he afterwards, (April loth, 1809,) speaks of 
" the men of talents and property there who now 
prefer the chance of maintaining their party by 



372 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

open resistance, and a final separation, to an alli- 
ance with France and a war with England.''^) 

This may be the most convenient place for intro- 
ducing the following characteristic letter from John 
Quincy Adams to Mr. Plumer : 

"August 16th, 1809. 

" My Dear Sir, — Among the letters which I received a 
few days before my departure from Boston, and which the 
precipitation with which I was obliged to hasten it prevented 
me from answering, I am almost ashamed to acknowledge, was 
your very kind favor of July. I say, ashamed to acknowledge, 
because in examining rigorously the causes which occa- 
sioned this omission, I cannot but say to myself, and am 
sensible you will have reason to think, that, however short my 
time was, I ought to have made an hour, at least, for the 
expression of grateful sensibility to the obliging attentions of 
friendship. 

" To repair as much as remains within my power the fault 
from which I cannot altogether discharge my own mind, I 
take at least the earliest opportunity after my embarkation to 
do what ought to have preceded it, and to assure you that 
while absent from our country I shall feel myself highly in- 
debted to you for the benefit of your correspondence, when- 
ever your own convenience, and the opportunities of a 
navigation, so restricted as I am afraid ours will too long 
continue to be, may permit. And, in telling you how much I 
shall prize your correspondence, independently of the gratifi- 
cation which you will readily conceive an exile from his native 
land must derive from every token of remembrance coming 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 373 

from those whom he most highly vahies in it, I may add, 
that the confidence with which I shall receive from you either 
intelligence or opinions, will be founded on a sentiment very 
deeply rooted in my experience and observation, that you see 
more clearly and judge more coolly of men and things relating 
to our political world, than almost any other man with whom 
it has ever been my fortune to act in public life. The spirit 
of party has become so inveterate and so virulent in our 
country, it has so totally absorbed the understanding and the 
heart of almost all the distinguished men among us, that I, 
who cannot cease to consider all the individuals of both par- 
ties as my countrymen, who can neither approve nor disap- 
prove in a lump either of the men or the measures of either 
party, who see both sides claiming an exclusive privilege of 
patriotism and using against each other weapons of political 
warfare which I never can handle, cannot but cherish that 
congenial spirit, which has always preserved itself pure from 
the infectious vapors of faction ; which considers temperance 
as one of the first political duties ; and which can perceive a 
very distinct shade of difference between political candor and 
political hypocrisy, 

" It aiFords me constant pleasure to recollect, that the 
history of our country has fallen into the hands of such a man. 
For, as impartiality lies at the bottom of all historic truth, I 
have often been not without my apprehensions, that no true 
history of our own times would appear at least in the course 
of our age ; that we should have nothing but Federalist 
histories or Republican histories, New England histories or 
Virginia histories. We are, indeed, not over stocked with 
men, capable even of this, who have acted a part in the public 



374 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

affairs of our Union. But of men, who unite both qualifica- 
tions — that of having had a practical knowledge of our affairs, 
and that of possessing a mind capable of impartiality in sum- 
ming up the merits of our governments, administrations, 
oppositions, and people — I know not another man, with whom 
I have ever had the opportunity of forming an acquaintance, 
on the correctness of whose narrative I should so implicitly 
rely. . 

" Such an historian, and I take delight in the belief, will 
be a legislator without needing constituents. You have so 
long meditated upon your plan, and so much longer upon the 
duties of man in society, as they apply to the transactions of 
your own life, that I am well assured your work will carry a 
profound political moral with it. And I hope, — though upon 
this subject I have had no hint from you, which can ascertain 
that your view of the subject is the same as mine, — but I hope 
that the moral of your history will be the indissoluble union 
of the North American continent. The plan of a New Eng- 
land combination more closely cemented than by the general 
ties of the Federal government, — a combination, first to rule the 
whole, and, if that should prove impracticable, to separate from 
the rest, — ^has been so far matured, and has engaged the studies, 
the intrigues and the ambition of so many leading men in 
our part of the country, that I think it will eventually pro- 
duce mischievous consequences, unless seasonably and effect- 
ually discountenanced by men of more influence and of more 
comprehensive views. To rise upon a division system is 
unfortunately one of the most obvious, and apparently easy 
courses, which plays before the eyes of individual ambition, in 
every section of the Union. It is the natural resource of all 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 375 

the small statesmen, who, feeling like Cirsar, and finding that 
Rome is too large an object for their grasp, Avould strike off a 
village, where they might aspire to the first station without 
exposing themselves to derision. This has been the most 
powerful operative impulse upon all the disunionists, from the 
first Kentucky conspiracy down to the negotiations between 
Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire, of the last 
winter and spring. Considered merely as a pui-pose of ambi- 
tion, the great objection against this scheme is its littleness. 
Instead of adding all the tribes of Israel to Judah and Benja- 
min, like David, it is walking in the ways of Jeroboam, the 
son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, by breaking off Samaria 
from Jerusalem. Looking at it in reference to moral con- 
siderations, it is detestable, as it certainly cannot be accom- 
plished by open and honorable means. Its abettors are 
obliged to disavow their real designs, to affect others, to 
practice continual deception, and to work upon the basest 
materials, — the selfish and dissocial passions of their instru- 
ments. Politically speaking, it is as injudicious, as it is con- 
tracted and dishonorable. The American people are not 
prepared for disunion, far less so than these people imagine. 
They will continue to resist and to defeat every attempt of 
that character, as they uniformly have done ; and such pro- 
jects will still terminate in the ruin of their projectors. But 
the ill consequences of this turbulent spirit will be to keep 
the country in a state of constant agitation, to embitter the 
local prejudices of fellow citizens against each other, and to 
(limlnisli the injiuence ichich ice ought to have, and might have, 
in the general conncils of the Union. 



376 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

"To counteract the tendency of these partial and foolish 
combinations, I know nothing so likely to have a decisive 
influence as historical works, honestly and judiciously executed. 
For, if the doctrine of Union were a new one, now first to be 
inculcated, our history would furnish the most decisive argu- 
ments in its favor. It is no longer the great lesson to be 
learned, but the fundamental maxim to be confirmed, and 
every sjiecies of influence should be exerted by all genuine 
American patriots to make its importance more highly esti- 
mated and more unquestionably established. I should have 
been glad to see a little more of this tendency in Marshall's 
Life of Washington than I did find. For Washington was 
emphatically the man of the whole Union ; and I see a little 
too much of the Virginian in Marshall. Perhaps it was una- 
voidable ; and perhaps you will find it equally impossible to 
avoid disclosing the New England man. I have enoiigh of 
that feeling myself most ardently to wish, that the highest 
example of a truly liberal and comprehensive American politi- 
cal system may be exhibited by New England men. 

" I regret that 1 could not have the pleasure of a full and 
confidential personal interview with you before my departure. 
My father, I am sure, will be happy to see you at Quincy, 
and to furnish you. any materials in his power. He has been for 
the last three months publishing papers, which I think will 
not be without their use to your undertaking. 

^' Adieu, my dear sir. I write you this letter on the Grand 
Bank of Newfoundland, after passing the night in catching 
cod, of which, in the interval of a six hours' calm, we have 
caught upwards of sixty. In the association of ideas, there 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 377 

is no very unnatural transition from cod fishing on the Grand 
Bank to the History of the United States. No man will, I 
trust, be better able than yourself to supply the intermediate 
links in this singular concatenation. Let me only hope that 
it will appear to you as natural a transition, as that from any 
subject whatsoever, to the assurance of the respect and attach- 
ment, with which I subscribe myself your friend, and humble 
servant, 

" John Quincy Adams." 

In the divided state of public opinion in New 
Hampshire, the position of a man of Mr Plumer's 
talents and standing was not a matter of indifference 
to either party. His new friends were anxious to 
bring him once more into public life. They accord- 
ingly nominated him (Feb. 15, 1810,) as the Hepubli- 
can candidate for Senator, in the district where he 
resided. He was unwilling again to enter on the 
field of party politics, and had taken some pains to 
secure the nomination of another person ; but the 
unanimous call of the nominating convention over- 
came his reluctance ; and, having once assumed his 
ground, he entered with his usual activity into the 
contest, and contributed more, probably, than any 
other person in the state, to the success of the party 
in the March elections. His old friend, Judge Smith, 
between whom and himself a personal difference had 
occurred, heightened, probably, on both sides, by 



378 LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 

party feeling, had, the previous year, been elected 
Governor, and was now a candidate for re-election. 
But the RejDublicans carried the state ; and Langdon 
was restored to his old office, with Republican major- 
ities in every branch of the government. Mr. 
Plumer's district was considered a doubtful one ; and 
the attack of the Federalists on their new opponent 
was of the most unscrupulous and envenomed char- 
acter. He received, on this occasion, as his successor 
in the Senate, Nahum Parker, said, " as many curses 
as a scape-goat could wag with." He was sustained, 
however, by the Republicans with equal zeal, and 
was elected by a very decided majority. The rival 
candidate was George Sullivan. 

In announcing his election to his friend Adams, he 
said, (May 18th,) " Much against my inclination, I was 
constrained to be a candidate ; and am elected a 
member of the State Senate. This has, and will, too 
much divert my attention from my historical pur- 
suits, which, however, I shall not long neglect. 
I bring to that Avork a mind purely American, 
devoted to neither of the parties which now unfortu- 
nately agitate and divide the country, in both of 
which I see much to censure and condemn." He had 
not yet given up the hope to proceed with this work. 
He had recently written on the subject to Mr. 
Jefferson, who said in reply, July 12th, 1810 : 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMEPt. 379 

" I am liappy to hear you have entered on a work so inter- 
esting to every American as the history of our country. That 
of the last thirty or forty years admits, certainly, of much im- 
provement on any thing which has yet appeared ; and when- 
ever it shall be written with truth and candor, and with that 
friendship to the natural rights of man, in which our revolu- 
tion and constitution are founded, it will he a precious work. 
The only fund for information, which I can avail you of, is 
my memory as to facts which have occuried within my own 
time — say from the dawn of the revolution, aided by my 
letters, written at the time, a recurrence to which will refresh 
my memory. With respect to any facts within that period, 
which you may suppose to have passed under my observation, 
if you should, at any time, wish information, I will with 
pleasure and promptitude communicate what I know." 

On the meeting of the Legislature, in June, Mr. 
Plumer was chosen President of the Senate, — an 
office whose duties he discharged to the entire satis- 
faction of that body, from which he received, at the 
close of the session, a unanimous vote of thanks. 
There was little business of importance transacted 
during this session of the Legislature. His part in it 
was that of an intelligent and independent legislator, 
voting according to his own sense of right, now with 
one side and now with the other, with very little 
reference to party views or policy. More than once 
his solitary nay was recorded, where he thought both 
parties wrong; and his new friends found that his old 



380 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

habit of independent action had lost none of its force 
by his change of party associations. " As President 
of the Senate," he says, June 16th, 1810, "I promjDtly 
discharge my duties, speaking and acting my mind 
with great freedom. I examine studiously every 
question which I am bound to decide, and act as my 
judgment dictates, without fear or partiality. My 
influence is increasing. The Federalists court my 
favor ; some sincerely, others to excite distrust in the 
Republicans against me." He was appointed Chair- 
man of two Committees, to meet in the recess ; the 
one, to report a Judiciary system for the state ; the 
other, to publish a revised edition of the laws. But 
he declined both these appointments, as interfering 
too much with his literary pursuits. " Nature," he 
said, " and the course of events indicate private and 
literary life ; and to that my inclination tends. I 
hope I shall pursue it steadily." Though acting, in 
the main, with the Republicans, he was not the slave 
of party. A person having been nominated to an 
important office, for which he thought him unfit, and 
his aid being asked to secure his election, he declined 
giving it, in a letter dated July 25th, 1810, to John F. 
Parrot, Chairman of the Central Committee. " There 
is no error," he said, "more fatal than that of selecting 
improper men for office. Men of this character I 
cannot support. Of men and measures, I have from 
early life been in the habit of thinking and speaking 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 381 

freely. This right I cannot consent to sacrifice either 
at the shrine of party, or on the altar of j)opularity." 
There was, in this, little of "the zeal of a new convert," 
or the cool calculation of the " apostate politician," — 
terras applied to him, at the time, by men who could 
as little apj)reciate his motives as imitate his conduct. 
The candidate whom he had thus opposed, hearing 
of this letter, declined the nomination. 

Governor Langdon being desirous, from the infirm- 
ities of age, to withdraw from public life, Mr. Plumer 
was mentioned, among others, as a candidate for the 
succession. In reply to a formal application from 
some of his friends in Hillsborough county, he said, 
" We must persuade Governor Langdon to be, once 
more, our candidate ; " and he accordingly set himself 
to bring about this result. 

" Having," he writes, (October 25th,) " received two mes- 
sages from Governor Langdon, I paid him a visit. He said 
that office was burdensome to him ; that he was desirous of 
retirement, and anxious that I should be his successor. I 
replied that I preferred private to public life ; and that office 
would be unwelcome to me ; and that the diversity of opinion 
among Republicans was such that, unless he consented to be 
a candidate, we should endanger the election. I left him 
with assuring him that he must be Governor one year." 

December 6th, 1810. " Visited Governor Langdon. He 
is averse to being a candidate ; and, at the same time, appre- 
hensive, if he should decline, and the Eepublicans fail, that 



382 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

he would be severely censured. He said that at his advanced 
age, he could neither bear these reproaches, nor the burdens of 
office. I advised him to submit with cheerfulness to the Avill 
of the Republicans. He replied that, if they would release him, 
he would give them two thousand dollars to aid my election. 
His situation is indeed unpleasant. He is desirous of retire- 
ment, but afraid to insist upon it. He must, however, be our 
candidate for the next year. T have not seen him for some 
time display so much resolution, judgment, and vivacity as he 
did this evening." 

This desire of the veteran politician to decline 
office, and even to pay for being excused from its 
labors, was, perhaps, as natural at seventy, as his 
fondness for it had been at an earlier date. He 
finally consented to remain a candidate, and was 
re-elected in March, 1811, against his old opponent, 
Gilman, the Federalists having dropped Smith, as 
less likely to succeed. Mr. Plumer was, at the same 
time, re-elected to the Senate, against Oliver Pea- 
body, supposed to be the most popular Federalist in 
this doubtful district. At the meeting of the Legis- 
lature, in June, he was again chosen President of the 
Senate. 

June 15th, 1811. " A general Republican caucus unani- 
mously nominated John Langdon as candidate for Governor 
next year ; and appointed a committee to wait upon him, 
and receive his answer ; which answer was that his age made 
it necessary for him to decline. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 383 

17th. "In the evening the caucus met agam ; heard the 
report of the committee, and appointed a committee of ten 
to nominate a new candidate. 

19th. "I had two questions, to-day, to decide in the 
Senate, in which the earnest requests of my friends Avere op- 
posed to Avhat I thought my duty. In hoth, I voted according 
to my own judgment. I cannot consent either to acquire, or 
hokl office, by so base a tenure as the sacrifice of my opinions ; 
and those Avho expect it from nie will be disappointed. It, 
in general, requires less information to discover our duty, than 
firmness to perform it. In the evening there Mas a meeting, 
say of one hundred and twenty Republicans. The commit- 
tee unanimously reported me as a candidate for Governor, 
next year ; which report was unanimously accepted. They 
appointed a committee, with the Speaker as chairman, to 
inform me of their proceedings, and request my answer. 
After General Storer had made the communication, I observed 
to the committee, that I was sensible of the honor conferred 
upon me ; that my wishes centred in retirement ; that the 
state of my health, and my pursuits in life required it ; and 
that I should have been pleased if they had nominated a man 
better qualified for that high trust, and more ambitious of 
obtaining it ; but that considering the state of public affairs, 
and the unanimity of their choice, I did not think myself at 
liberty to decline. This nomination was made without my 
privity, and unsought by me. I have taken no measures, 
direct or indirect, to influence any man ; but have, on every 
occasion, while in office, done what I thought right and proper, 
regardless of the consequences to myself. When first informed 
of the vote of the Hepublicans to support me, a consideration 



384 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of the effects an election will necessarily produce on my 
family and my mode of living, the frequent interruptions it 
will occasion in my literary pursuits, the high responsibility of 
the office, the raised expectations of my friends, the inveterate 
opposition of my political enemies, and the anxiety I must 
feel in office, depressed my spirits, and made me regret that 
my name had been mentioned. But sufficient for the day is 
the evil thereof. 

20th. " I have had a fatiguing day in the Senate, where I 
sat twelve hours, and did much business." 

21st. " The Legislature met at five o'clock, and adjourned, 
shic die, between ten and eleven in the forenoon. In seven- 
teen days, Sundays included, we have performed the legislative 
business of the state for the year." 

This session was the last which he attended as a 
member. He had served eight years in the House, 
and two in the Senate ; which, Avith his five years in 
Congress, made fifteen years of service in legislative 
assemblies. 

He still continued occasionally to attend the courts 
of law. Under date of August 26th, 1811, he writes: 

" I attended the Court of Common Pleas, in Rockingham. 
I was treated with much respect by the Court and Bar. The 
Federal lawyers were distinguished for their attentions ; 
Mason and Webster particularly so, though they will both 
vote against me in March. I inquired of Mason whether, in 
case Evans should die, or Steel resign — both of them probable 
events, he would accept office under Livermore. He replied. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMJIR. 385 

lie could not, but discovered no aversion to the office. He 
said the Federalists of Massachusetts v^-ould make a great 
effort at the next spring elections ; and, if they failed, they 
would forciby resist the laws of Congress. I replied, that I 
did not doubt that some of them intended to do so ; but I 
thought they would be disappointed. He said that he was re- 
solved to have but little to do with politics ; and that he was 
censured by his friends for his inactivity." 

This opinion of Mr. Mason, that the laws would be 
resisted, was founded, probably, among other things, 
upon the proceedings of the Federalist Convention, 
held March 31st, 1811, in Boston, which resolved that 
the non-intercourse law, just then passed, " if persisted 
in, must, and luill be resisted." " Resistance," said Dr. 
Parish, (April 11th, 1811,) is our only security." The 
bill providing for the admission of Louisiana, as a state, 
into the Union, had given occasion at the previous 
session, (January 14th, 1811,) for a strong expression 
of feeling in Congress on this subject, by a distin- 
guished member from Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy, 
afterwards President of Harvard University. " If this 
bill passes," said Mr. Quincy, "it is my deliberate 
opinion, that it is virtually a dissolution of this Union; 
that it will free the states from their moral oblig-a- 
tions ; and, as it will then be the 7-igJit of all, so it will 
be the did// of some, to prepare definitely for a separa- 
tion, — amicably, if they can, violently, if they must. 
The bill, if it passes, is a death blow to the Consti- 

25 



386 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

tution. It may afterwards linger ; but lingering, its 
fate will, at no very distant period, be consummated." 
"I have known," wrote John Quincy Adams to 
Elbridge Gerry, at this time, (June 30th, 1811,) 
"now more than seven years, the project of the Bos- 
ton faction against the Union. They have ever since 
that time, at least, been seeking a pretext and an 
occasion for avowing the principle. The people, how- 
ever, have never been ready to go with them." " If," 
wrote Allen Bradford to Elbridge Gerry, (October 
18th, 1811,) " our national rulers continue their anti- 
commercial policy, the New England States will, by 
and by, rise in their wonted strength and, with the 
indignant feelings of 1775, sever ihemselves from that 
part of the nation which thus wickedly abandons their 
rights and interests." " There is no state of parties," 
writes Mr. Plumer, (December 30th, 1811,) to Charles 
Cutts, Senator from New Hampshire, "so much to be 
deprecated as that designated by geographical lines. 
It is with deep regret that I find the terms Northern 
and Southern parties and interests, so often used in 
the debates of Congress.. Your present course is, you 
may rely upon it, highly grateful to certain Federal 
characters in New England, who have long privately 
favored a division of the states." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE. 

The office of Governor of New Hampshire had, at 
this time, an importance attached to it in the public 
estimation, which it hardly possesses now. The office 
had been, for many years, confined, with the excep- 
tion of a single term, to two men, — John Langdon, 
and John Taylor Oilman. Langdon, the leader of the 
Democracy, was, perhaps, the most perfect gentleman 
in the state ; dignified, yet easy in his deportment, 
urbane and courteous, with a native grace, which 
won the good will and respect of all who approached 
him. Oilman, the representative of less popular 
opinions, was also a man of good personal appearance 
and refined manners, and wore the old-fashioned 
cocked hat of the revolution with an ease and dignity 
not unbecoming his high station. I remember him 
fifty years ago, when I was a student in the Academy 
at Exeter, bowing courteously to us boys, and regarded 
by us as, next to the Principal, Dr. Abbott, the 
greatest of men. The unpopularity of the embargo 
had made Judge Smith Oovernor in 1809 ; but he 
was turned out to pasture, according to his own 



388 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

expression, a yearling ; and when, in 1812, Langclon 
declined beinor a candidate, Gilman was ao:ain brou2;lit 
forward as the man most likely to retrieve the fallen 
fortunes of his party. 

The contest was urged, on this occasion, with great 
zeal on both sides ; and, on the part of the Federalists, 
with no little bitterness towards Mr. Plumer. Their 
feelings were sharpened to acrimony by his former 
and present relations with them, as a leader in their 
ranks, and now their most formidable opponent. 
Along with many insinuations and much reproach 
thrown out, as usual on such occasions, two specific 
personal charges were brought against him ; — the 
first, that he had formerly been a Baptist preacher, 
:and was now, probably, (for no proof was offered,) an 
unbeliever ; and the second, that, from being once a 
■zealous Federalist, he had now become as zealous a 
Hepublican ; — in other words, his change of opinion 
in religion and in politics. The first of these charges, 
that of infidelity, was relied on as likely to injure 
him with the religious portion of both parties. Yet 
such is the general indisposition to connect religious 
belief with political conduct, that he lost very few 
votes by his supposed opinions on this subject. His 
'known exertions at the bar in favor of equal justice 
to all sects had secured for him the zealous support 
-of the Methodists, Baptists, and other minor sects, 
who felt the prejDonderance of the Congregational 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 389 

clergy as unfavorable to tlieir success. These last 
were almost all Federalists, as the former were very 
generally Republicans. His real crime, if crime it be 
to serve the state rather than a party, was that he no 
longer acted with his old associates. That he had 
been a Federalist, was readily admitted by his new 
friends ; and his opponents were reminded that, as 
there was no office which they once thought too good 
for him,' they could not wonder that the Hepublicans, 
now that he acted with them, should think equally 
well of him. Aside, however, of these merely per- 
sonal considerations, the great question between the 
two parties was in relation to the measures of the 
general government. On counting the votes, in June, 
it appeared that there was no choice of Governor by 
the people. Of the eight or nine hundred votes 
thrown for other than the regular candidates, some 
were by Federalists, who thought that Smith had not 
been fairly dealt with in throwing him aside for Gil- 
man; and some by Republicans, who remembered 
Plumer chiefiy as a Federalist. In the convention of 
the two Houses, lie was elected Governor, (June 4th, \^ 
1812,) by one hundred and four votes against eighty- 
two for Oilman. All branches of the government, 
including the Council and the Judiciary, were now 
Republican. 

The Governor elect was waited upon, at his house 



390 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in Epping, by a Committee of the Legislature, and 
officially informed of his election. 

" After taking breakfast^ he writes, June 5th, I rode with 
them on horseback to Concord. At Nottingham we were 
met by Gen. Butler and Col. Cilley, [Cilley was one of his 
old Federalist friends,] with about twenty gentlemen, who 
escorted us to Deerfield. There I was importuned to wait 
for a company of cavalry ; but my time was not my own, and 
duty forbade delay. About a dozen gentlemen escorted me 
from thence to Epsom, where I met Gov. Langdon. When 
he took leave of me, he was much affected ; tears filled his 
eyes, and impeded his utterance. Having dined at my sister's, 
I mounted my horse, accompanied by some twenty gentle- 
men. Two miles from thence, I was met by about eighty 
more on horseback. The first six were mounted on gray 
horses, followed by the Marshal of the day, and the Sheriffs 
of Strafford and Rockingham. I came next to these, with 
two Captains of the United States' army, one on each side, and 
after me the remainder of the escort. On passing the bridge 
at Concord, we were met by an additional escort. The pro- 
cession proceeded to Barker's tavern, where we arrived at 
four in the afternoon. I ordered refreshments for all who 
attended. The day was fivorable to the journey ; and though 
I had not, for many years, rode so far in one day on horse- 
back, I was less fatigued than I had expected. 

June Gth. " At nine o'clock in the morning, I took my 
seat in the Council chamber ; and soon after, a Committee 
from the Les'islature conducted me. with the Council, to the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 391 

Representatives' liall, where the two Houses were assembled. 
After making a short address, T took and subscribed the 
affirmation of office, and, after being seated a few moments, I 
rose and read my speech, Avhich occupied about twenty min- 
utes. I was agitated ; my hand trembled ; and, before I had 
read through the second paragraph, I was apprehensive that 
I should be obliged to stop. But my confidence increased ; 
and I pronounced the remainder with ease and propriety." 

Ease is not, however, the word to express properly 
the manner in which this speech was delivered. His 
momentary embarrassment — the not ungraceful 
deference of the orator to his audience — was followed 
by a reaction of unusual power and animation, which 
gave new force to his delivery, and produced a 
marked effect, both on the convention, and on the 
crowds in the lobbies and galleries. There was some- 
thing in his look and manner, in his tones and 
gestures, as well as in the words he uttered, which 
lifted men, at times, from their seats, as by an electric 
transfusion of thought and feeling, but which the 
words, as we now read them, seem hardly adequate 
to produce. He received from both friends and 
opponents many compliments on the ability displayed 
on this occasion ; and the speech itself was regarded 
by the public, both in and out of the state, with much 
favor. It v/as delivered a few days only before the 
declaration of war with England, and it struck in 
happily with the prevailing tone of the public feeling 



392 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

on that subject. The answers of both Houses 
responded fully to the sentiments of the speech ; but 
they were adopted by a strictly party vote. The 
Governor's old correspondent, Thomas W. Thompson, 
offered, in behalf of the Federalists of the House, to 
return a general comjDlimentary answer to the speech, 
condemning the conduct of both France and Eng- 
land, and speaking vaguely and in general terms, 
without censure or approbation, of the policy of the 
administration. But the Republicans were too 
strong, and too decided in their opinions, to admit of 
any such compromise or concealment. I have not 
room to quote this speech entire, and am unable 
to give extracts that would adequately represent its 
view^s and reasonings. 

The Legislature adjourned on the 19th of June, to 
meet again m November. The following is from Mr. 
Plumer's diary : 

June 20th. " At eight o'clock in the morning, I mounted 
my horse for home, and was escorted the whole distance by a 
large and increasing military escort and cavalcade ; till, 
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, I reached 
my house, where liberal refreshments were furnished to the 
people." 

June 23d. " In the evening I received by an express a let- 
ter from Major-General Dearborn, stating that he was official- 
ly informed that the government of the United States had 
declared war against Great Britain, and requesting me to order 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 6)j6 

out one company of artillery, and one of infantry, of the 
detached militia, and place them under the command of Major 
Upham of the United States army, at Portsmouth, for the 
defence of the sea-coast." 

June 24th. " I issued orders to General Storer to order 
out the troops in conformity with this requisition." 

July 7th. " Last evening I received a requisition from 
General Dearborn to send one company of detached militia to 
defend the northern frontier of this state. To-day, I issued 
orders to General INIontgomery to call them out from his 
brigade, and station them at Stewartstown and Errol." 

July 21st. "I issued an order to General Storer, requir- 
ing him to send one company of the detached infantry of his 
brigade to Portsmouth harbor, and to detach a suitable Major 
to take the command of the troops at Forts Constitution and 
McClary ; and also to General Robinson to send one company 
of the detached artillery from his brigade to the same place, 
for the defence of the sea-coast." 

August 6th. " I met the Council at Concord. I requested 
their attention to the appointment of a Judge of the Superior 
Court, which was the occasion of our meeting. After a free 
conversation, in which I stated my opinion of the importance 
of the office, and the necessity of selecting a man of talents 
and integrity, "who had a thorough knowledge of the law, I pro- 
posed Samuel Bell, as a person well qualified by his talents, his 
attainments, his business habits, and his decision of character, 
to discharge with dignity and propriety the duties of the 
office. His connection with the Plillsborough Bank would 
render the appointment at first unpopular ; but I was willing 
to take the responsibility on myself, and had no doubt his 



394 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

good conduct would soon remove those prejudices. The 
Councillors gave no opinion, except Chase, who declared in 
favor of the appointment. In the evening, Hall, Upham, and 
Smith, the three Republican Councillors, came to my chamber, 
to converse on the appointment of a judge. The result was 
that Hall and Smith positively refused to agree to the nomi- 
nation of Bell ; and Upham said, if Franklin and Chase were 
in favor of Bell, he could not unite with those two Federal 
Councillors. As they had thus virtually negatived the man 
wdiom I consiflered best qualified for the office, I requested 
them to name a candidate. They proposed Clifton Claggett. 
I said, I thought him honest, but that his talents and legal 
attainments were not above mediocrity. I wished a man of 
superior qualifications ; but I would consider of it." 

June Tth. " In the morning I met the Council. Hall 
named Claggett. Chase observed that he could not vote for 
him till he knew the opinion of the Executive respecting 
Caleb Ellis, wdiom he wished to propose. I said, I considered 
Mr. Ellis an honest man and a sound lawyer. Chase and 
Franklin voted for, and the other three against him. Before 
we rose from our seats, Mr. Fj-anklin said, he Avished to ask 
me a question, but had doubts of the propriety of it. I 
requested him to proceed. He said it was reported in the 
newspapers, that I had declared the present war premature 
and unjust, and he wanted to know whether this was true. 
I replied that , it was not true, that I believed the war both 
just and necessary, and considered it my indispensable duty to 
support it." 

The assertion that Governor Plainer liacl declared 



I 
I 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 395 

the war "premature and impolitic" was first made 
in an Exeter paper, distinguished for the virulence of 
its abuse of the Governor ; and though contradicted 
at the time in the Concord Patriot, it was repeated 
in the Federalist papers, in this and other states ; and, 
seventeen years after, found its way into Bradford's 
History of Massachusetts. On seeing it there he wrote 
to the author, contradicting the statement, and 
received from him a promise to correct the error 
in his next edition. As no such edition has yet 
appeared, I have thought the report worth noticing 
here. To proceed with the journal : 

*'In the afternoon, the question was taken on the nomina- 
tion of Claggett for Judge. Three of the council made it, 
and I reluctantly consented. As he is Judge of Probate, and 
must resign that office, to accept the other, I named John 
Harris as his successor. Mr. Chase said he was in favor of 
nominating Mr. Smith. I observed that I could not agree 
to appoint any Councillor to an office which would vacate 
his se.it at the Board, and that I dissented from the former 
practice." 

This former practice, which had of late become very 
common, was for one Councillor to nominate another 
for some office, in the well-founded expectation that 
the favor would be returned; and the result often 
was, that, at the end of the year, several of the Coun- 
cillors, sometime a majority, had secured to them- 



396 LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 

selves good offices, virtually by their own appoint- 
ment, though, perhaps, no one had directly voted for 
himself. Governor Plumer set his face resolutely 
against this abuse of the appointing power ; and no 
such ajDpointment took place, while he was in office, 
though the attempt was made to force several uj)on 

him. With the selection of Claggett for Judge of the 

* 

Superior Court, he was not satisfied ; and afterwards 
reproached himself with not having more resolutely 
opposed it. Livermore, the Chief Justice, though a 
strong man, felt the need of abler associates, Evans, 
who was not a lawyer, had been prevented, by ill 
health, from sitting on the bench more than one day 
for tliG last eighteen months. On applying in person 
for an order for his quarter's salary, the Governor ad- 
verted delicately to the condition of the court, when 
Evans said that he had some thoughts of resigning, 
but that he was poor as well as sick, and wanted the 
emoluments of the office for his support. " To remove 
a sick man," says the Governor, in his journal, 
"oppressed with poverty, is a hardship to him; to 
continue him in office is a greater hardship to the 
state. The Legislature must decide." They had 
decided, in June, not to request his removal y and 
without such request, the Governor could not act 
in the case. 

On the 18th of November, he again met the Legis- 
lature. His speech, on this occasion, was occupied, 



I 
I 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 397 

as the previous one had been, mainly with the war, 
and circumstances growing out of it. Both Houses 
returned answers to the speech, approving of the 
war, and of "the prompt and patriotic manner in 
which the call of the President respecting the mili- 
tia was complied with." The Federalists, in both 
branches, voted against the answers, and, in the 
House, entered their protest on the journals. This 
protest pronounced the war unjust and inexpedient ; 
but its chief argument was directed against the power 
claimed by the President of calling out the militia, and 
placing them under officers of the United States. The 
Federalist Governors, Strong of Massachusetts, and 
Griswold of Connecticut, had refused to comply with 
the requisitions of General Dearborn, on the ground 
that, having a right to judge for themselves whether 
the call was necessary, they saw no occasion for its 
exercise at the present time. It was further lield in 
Massachusetts and Vermont, that, though the Presi- 
dent, Avhen himself in the field, might command in 
person the militia of a state called into service, he 
could not put them under the command of any other 
than their own state officers. Governor Gore of Mas- 
sachusetts, said in the Senate of the United States, 
December, 1814, "The President is commander in 
chief of the militia wdien in the actual service of the 
United States ; but there is not a tittle of authority 
for any other officer of the United States to assume 



398 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the command of the miUtia." It was only in the 
Federahst states of New England that these doctrines 
were maintained. In the other states tlie power of 
the President over the miUtia was not contested. It 
is a curious fact, overlooked at the time hy both 
parties in this controversy, that the Legislature of 
New Hampshire, (in June, 1794,) by a resolution, still 
in force, had authorised the Governor to call out the 
militia whenever required by the President. 

The choice of a Senator of the United States occur- 
ring at this time, many attempts were made, but 
without success, to elect one. The Republicans had 
a majority of only one in the Senate ; and Sanborn 
of Epsom, one of that majority, would vote for no 
man whom the others were willing to elect. Amol!^" 
those proposed, was the Governor, but Sanborn 
refused to vote for him, on the ground, avowed in 
the Senate, that the Republicans had no other man 
whom they could run as Governor with any chance 
of success, and that to elect him was to ensure their 
own defeat in March. The Governor beins; consulted 
on the subject, said that he preferred his present 
office to that of Senator, and private life to either ; 
and hoped, therefore, that no votes would be tln^own 
for him. It was generally supposed that Sanborn's 
vote might have been obtained, if he had desired it. 
But he felt that a hard battle was to be fought by 
the Republicans in the March elections, and that his 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 399 

proper place was here in the front of that battle. 
Defeat was probable ; but this was no reason why he 
should shun the contest. 

On most of the subjects recommended by him to 
the attention of the Legislature, they had acted in ac- 
cordance with his wishes. He had, however, during 
this year, returned one law and two resolves, with his 
objections to them. It is a singular proof both of his 
personal influence and of the facility with which 
improper measures are often adopted, that each of 
the acts on which he thus imposed his veto, was, on 
being returned, unanimously rejected ; not a single 
vote being given for laws which a majority of both 
Houses had just before passed. In one of these cases, 
private rights were injuriously affected, and important 
public interests sacrificed, by the proposed enactment. 
So important is often the final supervision of a vigi- 
lant Executive, in the judicious use of an independent 
veto. Here were bills which had been read three 
times, at different hours, in each House, and passed 
by both, which yet, on revision, every one saw ought 
not to become laws. Among the measures of the 
year, which were of permanent importance, were the 
building of the State's Prison, or Penitentiary, and 
the consequent revision of the Criminal Code. There 
were, at this time, eight offences punishable with 
death; they were now reduced to two, treason and 
murder ; the former an offence, of which no one has 



400 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

ever been convicted in New Hampsliire. Instead of 
tlie old punishments of the whip and the pillory, 
formerly nsed for minor offences, imprisonment in 
the State's Prison, or in the County Jail, was now 
substituted. 

A few extracts from letters and journals of the 
year will give a sufficient expression of the feelings 
and opinions of the period. 

To Samuel D. Mitchell, a Senator from New York, 
(January 1st, 1812 :) 

" Shall we have war with Great Britain ? If we persist in 
our preparations, will she repeal her Orders in Council, per- 
mit us the exercise of our rights on the ocean, and cease 
from impressing our seamen ? If she does not, are we to 
proceed from words to deeds — from acts of Congress to feats 
of arms ; or are we, by tamely submitting to new injuries, to 
provoke fresh insults ? The nation has grown tired of the 
exercise of its restrictive energies in the shape of embargoes 
and non-intercourse, and calls loudly for more active and 
efficient measures," 

To John A. Harper, a Representative from New 
Hampshire, (May 18, 1812:) 

" Tliere are numbers of Federalists who wish a separation 
of the states ; but I believe none of them have hardihood 
enough to come out now, and take publicly on themselves the 
responsibility of the measure. It is a settled j)lan with them, 
whenever a dismemberment of the Union is to be attempted, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 401 

that it be declared by some State Legislature ; and this year 
even Massachusetts has a Republican Senate." 

The Federalists, despairing of electing to the Presi- 
dency any candidate of their own, had concluded, at 
this time, to support De Witt Clinton, of New York, 
who was nominated by a portion of the Republicans 
against INIr. IMadison. 

Sept. 11th. "Read the address of the New York Com- 
mittee in favor of Clinton. In a state of Avar, it is an im- 
proper time to talk about ^ irginia influence, or, indeed, the- 
influence of any other state. Our united energies should be- 
directed against the common enemy of our country. I shall: 
vote for Madisonian electors." 

Oct. 20th. '' The Essex junto are not so much anxious to 
secure Clinton's election as to prevent ]Mr. Madison's having 
a single electoral vote in New England, that they may 
promote their flivorite object, the dismemberment of the 
Union." 

Madison was, in ftict, re-elected under a strong, 
sectional influence, having received all the Southern 
and Western votes, and none north of Pennsylvania, 
except six given him by the Legislature of Vermont, 
at a time when the jjeople, if allowed to vote, would 
have given them to Clinton. 

The subject of the right of the State Legislatures 
to bind, by mandatory instructions, their Senators 
in Congress, excited at this time much attention. 

26 



402 LIFE OP WILLIAM PLUMER. 

William B. Giles, of Virginia, who denied this right, 
had sent a copy of his speech on this subject to Gov- 
ernor Plumer, who (Dec. 28th,) said, in reply: 

" I most cordially approve of your opinion ; and thank yoii 
for the manly and able stand you have made in supporting 
the rights and independence of the Senate. Encroachments 
on the rights of public functionaries are as fatal to freedom, 
as if made on the people themselves. Both must be steadily 
resisted, or a free government cannot be supported. The 
public interests suffer more from an inordinate love of office, 
and a servile dependence on popular opinion, than they can 
do from any undue exercise of independent self-will in public 
men. Such independence is all too rare in our country." 

" It gives me great pleasure," said Giles, in reply, (March 
3d, 1813,) "to learn that you concur in opinion with me ; 
because the confidence I feel in your judgment can but serve 
to confirm me in that opinion. I have read, with great atten- 
tion and iiiterest, your able and patriotic sjDeech to the 
Legislature of New Hampshire. If such sentiments actuated 
every bosom in the United States, there could not exist a 
doubt of a speedy and honorable termination of the war." 

The Governor had received similar commendations 
of his speech from other quarters — among the rest, 
one from John Adams. " I thank you/' said the Ex- 
President, "for your eloquent and masterly speech, 
which I read with much satisfaction." He received 
soon after, (Jan. 10th, 1813,) another letter from Mr. 
Adams, in which he says : 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 403 

" I know not when, or where, I have ever received a more 
luminous letter than yours of the second of this month. It 
is a misfortune to an old man to receive a good letter ; he- 
cause it springs a mine in his memory, and disposes him to 
write a volume, which his life could not be long enough to 
finish. Hence the proverbial garrulity of age. You have 
consolidated the causes of change in the Northern States ; or, 
at least, your observations coincide with mine. Our two 
great parties have crossed over the valley, and taken posses- 
sion of each other's mountain. The coalition of North and 
Fox, in 1783, was modest in comparison with that between 
Clinton and the Federalists. To Jay, King, Ross and 
Pinckney, the pill was too bitter. A gentleman of greater 
talents and higher rank than E-ufus King, asked him, at New 
York, ' Do you intend to vote for De Witt ? ' Rufus replied, 
' No ; could you vote for Ben Austin ? ' I can say little of 
Mr. Clinton ; for I know nothing but by hearsay, having 
never seen him. But one thing I know. The state of New 
York has become a great state, and De Witt Clinton a great 
man, good, bad, or indifferent. The generous horse. New 
England, will be ridden as hard by New York as it ever has 
been by Virginia. 

" The clergy of this country are growing more and more 
like the clergy of all other countries. Osgood, Parish, 
Gardiner, are but miniatures of Lowth, Sacheverel, Laud, 
and Lorain : and in that rank I leave them." 

/ 

^ The division here indicated among leaders of the 

Federal party was not confined to the question of 
supporting Clinton for the Presidency. Many emi- 



404 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

nent Federalists, though originally opposed to the 
war, held that, once declared, it should be vigorously 
prosecuted; and they would do nothing unnecessarily 
to embarrass the government in its prosecution. But 
the majority of the party, looking mainly to j)arty 
objects, saw only in the difficulties and embarrass- 
ments of the times the means of effecting their own 
advancement to power. Such of them as deemed 
disunion desirable, were, of course, anxious to increase 
these embarrassments, as sure to accelerate the crisis. 
Among the Federalists of New England, who protested 
loudly against this policy of their former associates, 
one of the most distinguished was Samuel Dexter, 
of Boston, formerly a Senator in Congress, and after- 
wards Secretary of War under John Adams, who 
as a lawyer now stood at the head of his profession in 
the Union. In a speech at a town meeting in Faneuil 
Hall (Aug. 6th, 1812,) he denounced the measures of 
the party with great force and earnestness, as' leading 
inevitably to a separation of the states. So deep, 
indeed, had his convictions on this subject become 
before the end of the war, that, though having little 
sympathy with the Republicans, he suffered himself to 
be run against Strong, as their candidate for Gov- 
ernor. He was, he said, utterly unable to reconcile 
some of the leading measures of the Federalists with 
the indispensable duty of every citizen in every 
country, and especially in the American Republic, to 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 405 

hold sacred the union of his country. " Why," said 
he, "make pubUcations and speeches to prove that 
we are absolved from allegiance to the national 
government, and hint that an attempt to divide the 
empire might be justified?" Dexter, the greatest 
lawyer, and Gray, the greatest merchant of the 
United States, both j)reviously Federalists, were now 
the Hepublican candidates in Massachusetts, as 
Plumer was in New Hampshire ; men whose opinions 
had undergone little change as to past measures, but 
who felt it their duty to suq^)port the administration 
of their country against a foreign power, in opposition 
to the mistaken policy of their former friends. Dis- 
tinguished Federalists out of New England regarded 
the subject much in the same light. William Pinck- 
ney, Rufus King, James A. Bayard, and Robert G. Har- 
per were of this number. The latter said, speaking of 
the war, (Oct. 31st, 1812,) "The Eastern States will 
soon relieve themselves from a burden which they 
will consider as no longer tolerable, by erecting a 
separate government for themselves. Thus the dis- 
solution of the Union, and all the direful evils 
attendant upon it, must, as we believe, be the last 
and necessary consequence of continuing the present 
war." It was impossible, indeed, not to see that 
there was, at this time, a great body of men of 
talents, wealth, and political influence, who were sys- 
tematically employed in prejudicing the people of 



406 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

New Eno;land ao-ainst the Southern and Western 
States, sowing discord and distrust between them, 
and thus weakening the Union. Many who labored 
to this end were ignorant of the purpose they wxre 
subserving ; there were others who acted under no 
such mistake as to the tendency of their measures. 

It was a great, and, as the result proved, a fatal error 
of the Federal party, in the latter stages of its exist- 
ence, that it allowed its feelings of opposition to the 
Republicans to determine the course of its foreign 
policy to an extent which, in the popular estimation 
at least, identified it, in the end, with the enemies of 
the country^ In the successes of England they saw 
not so mucn the defeat of an American by a British 
force, as the overthrow of their j^olitical opponents, 
and their own consequent advancement to power. 
They considered England as excused, if not justified, 
in her measures, by the necessities of her position, 
and by the previous acts of France, to which hers 
were, as they said, little more than a just retaliation. 
Under the influence of such feelings many worthy 
citizens were seen to rejoice over British victories, 
and to mourn over those of their own country. Pas- 
sion, prejudice, personal interests, and the disappoint-, 
ments consequent on reiterated -party defeats, had 
so embittered their feelings, that the foreign foe 
seemed less obnoxious to them than the domestic 
rival and opponent. The rancor thus engendered on 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 407 

the one side, was met, on the other, with equal 
warmth of feeling bj the friends of the administration. 
The seceders from the Federal party, in particular, 
felt that their first allegiance was, not to party, but 
to their country ; and that, as the Republicans were 
upholding, in this war, the essential rights of the 
United States against foreign aggression, they were 
entitled to their earnest sujDport, as against the 
foreign foe. Mr. Plumer was not of a temperament 
to be cold or indifferent in such contests ; and he 
came ultimately to regard the success of his old asso- 
ciates of the Federal party, acting as they now were 
under the triple influence of devotion to England, 
hatred of France, and hostility to their own govern- 
ment, as utterly unworthy of the public confidence, 
and their success as fatal to the best interests of the 
country. The more violent of them differed, indeed, 
in his opinion, little in feeling or conduct, from those 
furious Jacobins who, taking part with a foreign 
power against their own government, had, under 
Washington and Adams, justified the worst aggres- 
sions of France on the United States. He condemned 
such conduct then, and he saw no reason to approve 
it now. 

The spring elections of 1813 were conducted with 
great zeal and vigor on both sides, but with less per- 
sonal abuse of the Governor than in the preceding 
year. His dignified and impartial conduct in office 



408 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 



had inspired even his opponents with a respect for 
him, which was apparent on this occasion. "No 
part/' he says, (March 9th, 1813,) "of my official 
conduct has been condemned, but that of ordering 
out the detached miUtia. The great accusation is, 
that I support the war, and vindicate the national 
government." The result of the canvass was the 
election of Gov. Oilman, by a majority of about two 
hundred and fifty votes, out of more than thirty-five 
thousand thrown. So well w^as each party satisfied with 
its own leader, that there were few or no scattering 
votes. " The recent elections in New Hampshire," said 
Mr. Plumer, in a letter to President Madison, (March 
27th,) "have terminated, by small majorities, in favor 
of the Federalists. Had our Republican citizens, who 
are absent in the army, been at the polls, we should 
have succeeded. I trust that our failure Avill not, in 
the least, influence the administration to relax in their 
measures to prosecute the war, or induce them to 
conclude a peace on unfavorable terms." Under 
date of May 12th, he writes: "Met the Council at 
Concord. I have not to-day had a moment's leisure 
— company the whole day and late at night — office- 
seekers and their friends have been importunate, and 
some of them tedious. This bargaining for office I 
heard with silent indio-nation." 

o 

He could not, however, always conceal his contempt 
for such baseness ; and his plain-spoken indignation 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 409 

made liim enemies, who showed themselves after- 
wards in his contest with the Advocate party in 
1816-17. Of one such individual he sa3^s: "His 
application gave me pain. He has been very atten- 
tive and obliging to me; and I am disposed to reward 
him liberally ; but not by conferring on him public 
office : that I cannot barter for personal or private 
favors. It is a degradation of which I am not capa- 
ble." One of his last official acts was the stationing 
of a watch or guard of thirty men, (May 20th) at 
Little Harbor, for the defence of Portsmouth. He 
writes, (June 2d :) 

" In the morning I administered the necessary oaths to the 
members of the two Houses. The majorities in both are 
Federal. In the afternoon I sent a message to the Legis- 
lature, stating certain measures which I had adopted since the 
last session. This was my last official act. I leave office 
without disgust, or regret. I am conscious that I have dis- 
charged its duties faithfully and impartially, without doing, 
or omitting, a single official act with reference to a re-election, 
or from any improper motive. Had my information and 
experience been the same, when my office commenced as 
when it terminated, my conduct, in a few things, would have 
been different. I should have made a more strenuous effort 
to have Bell appointed Judge of the Superior Court ; and 
should not have consented to the appointment of Claggett." 

June 4th. " I left Concord at five in the morning, having 
declined an escort, and reached home at two in the afternoon." 



410 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

This brought him to the close of his first term, as 
Governor of New Hampshire. The war with England 
had added greatly to his labors and responsibilities; 
but the punctuality, industry, and method to which, 
in his own affairs, he was accustomed, carried him 
cheerfully and safely through. Easy of access, and 
prompt in action, he was always at his post ; neglect- 
ing no duty, and throwing into each the whole force 
of his active and energetic mind. Ilis public papers 
were prepared with great care, both as to the matter 
and the manner ; and they did him much credit with 
the public. Among these, his proclamations for Fast 
and Thanksgiving were characteristic productions; 
scarcely less so than his speeches. They excited 
much attention, both in and out of the state. In 
Massachusetts they were, in some cases, read from 
the pulpit, by Ilepublican preachers, in the place of 
those of Governor Strong. Strong, in one of his, had 
condemned the war ; spoken of England as " the bul- 
wark of the religion w^e profess ; " and prayed that 
" God would hide us in his pavillion, until these 
dangers be past." Plumer, on the contrary, exhorted 
the people to pray to God "that he would insj)ire 
them with patriotism and love of country ; icacli their 
hands to war, and their fingers to fight ; turn the counsels 
of their enemies into foolishness ; and so unite the hearts 
of all our people, as even to make our enemies to he at 
'peace iiith us^ These proclamations, political rather 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 411 

than religious, express truly the sentiments, not of 
their authors merely, but of the two great parties to 
which they respectively belonged. 

June 25th. " This is my birth-clay ; the last, I %v as Gov- 
ernor of the state ; to-day. Governor Gihnan was escorted 
through the town, within half a mile of my' house. How 
uncertain is public life ! How unstable public opinion ! Yet 
the reflection costs me no pain ; nor the change any uneasi- 
ness. I never wanted the office ; but yielded to it as a duty." 

June 30th. " Perez Morton, the Attorney-General of 
Massachusetts, told me that Mr. Thorndike, an influential 
Federalist of Boston, was, a few days since, in company with 
a select number of that party, who declared themselves in 
fivor of separating the New England States from the Union. 
He asked them if that was their real object. They answered, 
'Yes.' He then said, ' If so, I am decidedly opposed to you. 
I am willing to pass resolutions, to talk loud, and thus intimi- 
date the government, so as to bring them, if possible, to make 
peace with England ; but I could not consent to a separation, 
if they would freely grant it. As a merchant, I know that 
it Avould render New England poor.' ' This,' said Mr. Mor- 
ton, ' is the opinion of many other Federalists of Boston.' " 

The accession of the Federal party to power in 
New Hampshire w^as signalized by a new organization 
of the courts of law. The Judiciary Act of June 24th, 
1813, abolished the Superior and Inferior Courts; 
turned out all the old judges; and established a 
Supreme Court, and a Circuit Court of Common Pleas 



412 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

in place of the old courts. Of this new Supreme 
Court, Jeremiah Smith was appointed Chief Justice, 
and Arthur Livermore and Caleb Ellis, Associate 
Justices. By the Constitution of the state, judges 
hold their offices during good behavior, till they 
reach the age of seventy years, subject to removal, 
on impeachment for crimes and misdemeanors, and 
b}^ the Governor and Council on address of the Legis- 
lature. As the judges, in this case, were removed in 
neither of these modes, the act was, in this respect; 
clearly unconstitutional. Such it was held to be by 
the Republicans generall}'', and by many Federalists, 
including some of the first lawyers in the state. It 
was in striking contrast with the Federalist doctrine, 
as held throughout the Union, in the case of the Cir- 
cuit Judges of the United States, of whom Smith had 
been one, nor was it less inconsistent with their 
favorite doctrine of the independence of the judi- 
ciary. Livermore, who held the first court under 
the new law, at Dover, in September, pronounced 
it unconstitutional, so far as it removed the old 
judges from office ; and denounced, with great sever- 
ity, the legislature by which it was passed. Smith, 
though he avowed his opinion less openly, was 
equally decided in his disapprobation of the law 
by which twenty-one judges were at once removed 
from office, in a way unknown to the Constitution, 
and contrary to its express provisions. " A very bold 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 413 

step," lie said, (July 26tli,) writing to Judge Farrar, 
" has been taken, in which I had no agency. It is a 
step, too, which I should not have advised." To Mason, 
he wrote the same day, "The General Court are 
most piteously frightened. I sincerely believe that, 
if they could get back the act, they would see the 
devil have it, before they would pass another such." 
He and Livermore, however, both accepted their 
appointments, and held the courts; not without 
interruption and protest from the old judges. In 
the comities of Strafibrd, Rockingham, and Hills- 
borough, the old judges attempted to hold courts at 
the same time with the new ones. In the two latter 
counties, the sheriffs, Butler and Pierce, who were 
Republicans, took part with the old court. Governor 
Gilman, on this, called together the Legislature ; and 
the refractory sheriffs were removed, in November, 
from their offices. Evans and Claggett held no more 
courts; and the new judges met with no further 
obstructions. They were able men, and good judges; 
their administration gave strength to their party, and 
the courts were improved by the change. The sub- 
ject, however, of the new judiciary continued to oc- 
cupy the public attention, and, next to the war, was 
the main issue between the two parties. This was 
one of the many cases in which Gm^eriior Plumer 
adhered to his old opinions, while his Federal friends 
were changing theirs. In 1813, as in 1802, he con- 



414 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. ' 

tended that judges, who held theu^ offices by the 
tenure of good behavior, could not constitutionally be 
removed by the repeal of the law under which they 
were appointed. 

The pressure of the war, now becoming daily more 
severe, gave the Federalists a small majority in the 
March elections of 1814. Governor Oilman was re- 
elected by a constitutional majorit}^ of but little more 
than one hundred votes, out of nearly forty thousand 
thrown. The House and Senate were also Federal ; 
1)ut in the Council there were three llepublicans to 
one Federalist. 

" The Federalists," wrote Mr. Phimer, " made my calling 
out the militia in 1812, the rallying point against me; and 
said that, if re-elected, I should persue the same course again. 
That I lost votes enough from this cause to have elected me, 
is probably true ; but to sacrifice duty to personal aggran- 
dizement, is what I have not done, and never will do. I had no 
personal wish to gratify in being re-elected. I enjoy more 
ease and satisfaction in private, than I ever did in public life." 

May 25th, 1814. "Governor Oilman has called out eight 
companies for the defence of Portsmouth. This excites much 
murmuring among his partizans, who say that he has not only 
followed my example, but gone greatly beyond me in the 
number of troops ordered out. They should consider that 
more are nccessai^ now than in 1812." 

Governor Plumer had been early in the habit of 
writing for the newspapers ; and the excited state of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 415 

the public mind, for the last four or five years, had 
given more than usual activity to his pen. Among 
the essays which he published, was a series of num- 
bers, in the winter of 1813-14, entitled "An Address 
to the Clergy of New England, on their Opposition to 
the Rulers of the United States, by a Layman." The 
Congregational clergy of New England had, from the 
first settlement of the country, taken an active part 
in politics. During the Revolution, they were zealous 
Whigs; under Washington and Adams they were Fed- 
eralists, which they continued very generally to be 
under Jefferson and Madison. In New England their 
influence, as politicians, was much relied upon by the 
leaders of the Federal party. Many of them, besides 
their daily conversation among their parishioners, 
made it a matter of conscience to preach political dis- 
courses on Fast and Thanksgiving days, and often on 
other occasions. Many of their Republican hearers felt 
this as a grievance, the more offensive to their feelings, 
as there seemed no remedy for the evil, but by with- 
drawing from their societies, and joining the Baptists, 
Methodists, and other sectaries, who were principally 
Republicans. Some of them did this, and more 
threatened to do so, "I was unwilling," says the 
author, "to undertake this task; but the conduct of 
the clergy, and the state of the nation impelled me. 
My object is to serve my country, which, I think, 
they are injuring." In the preface, noticing some 



416 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

« 

attacks which had been made upon him, he says: 
"I have only attempted, and that in the spirit of 
friendship, to recLaim the clergy from intermeddling A 
with degrading contentions, about which they are 
too ignorant to decide, and with which they have 
no concern. A clergyman preaching party politics 
merits less attention than the meanest of his hearers. 
If he will wallow in the mire of factious opposition, he 
cannot expect his cassock and band to protect him 
from the filth and slander which he delights in hand- 
ling." He adds, in a quotation from Burke, '^ Surely 
the church is a place where one day's truce ought 
to be allowed to the disputes and animosities of 
mankind." Instead of justifying England, and con- 
demning their own country, if they must preach 
politics, he commends to them the fervent patriotism 
of the Psalmist: "If I forget thee, 0, Jerusalem, 
let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not 
remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of 
my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief 
joy." Feeling sensibly the injustice, as well as the 
indecorum of the more outrageous of the attacks on 
the government, he pushed too far, joerhaps, the 
scripture doctrine of submission to rulers, and the 
consequent interdict on the clergy against preaching 
political discourses. Political questions are often 
moral questions, and as such fall clearly wdthin the 
domain of the pulpit. To discuss these temperately, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 417 

in the spirit of Christian candor, is not, therefore, to 
step beyond the line of clerical duty. But it was not 
with calm reasoning, or moral suasion, that he had in 
this case to deal, but with rude denunciation, and 
even with false statements. As against Osgood and 
Parish, the most prominent of these preachers, he 
had only to quote their former discourses, during the 
quasi-war with France, to prove that they were as 
inconsistent with themselves, as violent in their 
denunciations of others. It was in reference to these 
that he quoted the text of Malachi: "Ye have 
departed out of the way, ye have caused many to 
stumble; therefore, have I made you contemptible 
and base before all the people." The whole address 
was a concio ad clerum on the text, " Thou shalt not 
speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Besides the 
newspaper circulation of the address, three thousand 
copies of it were circulated in a pamphlet form, and 
attracted much attention. An answer was attempted 
to it, by Dr. McFarland, of Concord; but it was in its 
general strain an attack on the administration, rather 
than a defence of the clergy. 

Tlie_ correspondence of Governor Plumer, at this 
period, far from any abatement of zeal in the public 
cause, shows an increased confidence in the ultimate 
success of the war; notwithstanding the change of 
affairs in Europe, which enabled England, on the 
downfall of Napoleon, to throw, most unexpectedly 

27 



418 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

to her enemy, the victorious armies of WelUngton on 
the shores of America, to meet, as unexpectedly to 
herself, at the two extremes of the Union, the repulse 
by McDonough at Plattsburgh, and the defeat by 
Jackson at New Orleans. To Elbridge Gerry, the 
Vice-President, he wrote : » 

March 5th, 1814. "I should prefer a continuance of the 
war till we can obtain the Canadas. Our possession of those 
provinces is the only real security which our northern and 
western frontiers can have against the Indians, and the best 
guaranty that England will keep peace with us, on fair terms, 
in future, as it "svill render her West India dominions depend- 
ent on us for subsistence. The war, even in New England, 
is daily becoming more popular. If we fail in our elections, 
next Tuesday, in this state, it will be mainly owing to the 
belief that a Republican governor would order portions of the 
militia into the service. This is enough to turn against us 
many timid men, who yet call themselves Republicans." 

" We are told," he writes to Mr. Gerry, (May 2d,) " that 
there are but few of our seamen impressed ; yet, one fact is 
incontrovertible : during the whole war, we have not cap- 
tured a single British public ship, but we have found native 
American seamen on board, who had been impressed, and 
forcibly detained, and, in some cases, made to fight against 
their countrymen. The number, then, is great ; but suppose 
it small, a single seaman, unjustly detained, is such a Avrong 
as would justify a resort to arms. Yield one, and you may as 
well a thousand ; and there is no end to insult and injuries, 
if you tamely submit to them. Allegiance and protection are 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 419 

correlative terms ; you claim the one of your citizens, you are 
bound to give them the other. 

" Though the Republicans have succeeded neither in New 
Hampshire nor in Massachusetts, they have received acces- 
sions of strength in both of these states ; and in New York, 
they have obtained a triumph. I ardently desire an honorable 
peace ; but I hope and trust the government will not be so 
much in haste to obtain peace, as to sacrifice any great advan- 
tage or any essential right of the country. No nation can 
long survive the loss of honor, or the sacrifice of its rights." 

To John Adams he writes, (November 25th.) 

" You ask my opinion whether New Hampshire is pre- 
pared to adopt the measures of the Massachusetts Legislature. 
I think not. Though dismemberment has its advocates here, 
they cannot obtain a majority of the people or their repre- 
sentatives to adopt or avow it. How far their covert proceed- 
ings, aided by the imposition of taxes, and the adoption of 
other measures necessary to carry on the war, may eventually 
influence our people to aid them in their projects, time alone 
can disclose. Before Governor Strong's letter reached Gov- 
ernor Gilman, inviting New Hampshire to send delegates to 
Hartford, our Legislature was adjourned to June. The 
Governor cannot convene them without the advice of the 
Council ; and, fortunately, a majority of the Councillors are 
staunch Republicans. This has prevented his even asking 
their opinion on the subject." 

It appears, however, that the Governor, at a later 
period, did consult the Council on the subject ; that 



420 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the two Federal Councillors advised him (Jan. 
25th, 1813,) to call the Legislature together; and 
that the three RejDublicans refused to sign this advice. 
This would have been too late to send delegates to 
the convention, but not too late to act on the meas- 
ures which they recommended. 

To Jeremiah Mason he writes, (Dec. 29, 1814.) 

" You ask what will be the result of the Hartford Conven- 
tion. I expect no good, but much evil from it. It will 
embarrass us, aid the enemy, and protract the war. Their 
prime object is to effect a revolution, — a dismemberment of 
the Union. Some of its members, for more than ten years, 
have considered such a measure necessary. Of this I have 
conclusive evidence. I think, however, they have too much 
cunning, mixed with fear, to proceed further, at their first 
meeting, than to addresses, remonstrances, and resolves. But 
the spirit they have excited in the minds of the more violent 
of their party will not, I fear, be satisfied with mere words, 
but will, should the war continue, lead to more violent 
measures." 

The Massachusetts House of Representatives had, 
at the preceding session, declared that " the time has 
arrived at which it is incumbent on the people of 
this state to decide whether these burdens [the Avar 
and embargo, the latter of which they pronounced 
unconstitutional,] are not ioo grievous to he home, and 
to prepare themselves for the great duty of protect- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 421 

ing, hj their own vigor, their unalienable rights." They 
now (Oct., 1814,) declared that tlie Constitution, as at 
present administered, had "failed to secure to the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to the Eastern 
section of the Union, those equal rights and benefits, 
which were the great objects of its formation." "It 
is vain to talk about the Union," said Mr. Saltonstall, 
in the Massachusetts Senate, on the appointment of 
delegates to the Hartford Convention, (Oct., 1<S14,) 
" if our rulers pursue a course much longer which is 
teaching us all to look to the general government as 
the cause of our ruin. Unless an effort is made, the 
states will soon as naturally fall asunder as ripe fruit 
is now falling from our trees." 

The Convention which met at Hartford, Dec. 15th 
1814, consisted of delegates appointed by the Legis- 
latures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Uliode 
Island, and of members appointed by two County 
Conventions in New Hampshire and one in Vermont. 
Its proceedings were conducted with closed doors; 
and among its rules was one " that the most inviolate 
secrecy shall be observed by every member of this 
Convention, including the Secretary, as to all the 
propositions, debates and proceedings thereof" This 
injunction was removed at the close of the session, so 
far ovAy "as relates to the report finally adopted." 
This report, which was made to the State Legislatures 



422 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

by which the members were appointed, was approved 
and published by them. In it the question of dis- 
solving the Union was discussed at some length. 
"To prescribe patience and firmness to those who are 
already exhausted by distress, is sometimes," they 
say, "to drive them to despair; and the progress 
towards reform by the regular road is irksome to those 
whose imaginations discern, and their feelings prompt 
to a sJioyier coursed This shorter course is direct and 
open violence. " A sentiment prevails to no incon- 
siderable extent, that the time for a change is at 
hand. Those who so believe, regard the evils which 
surround them as intrinsic and incurable defects in the 
Constitution. They yield to the persuasion that no 
change, at ang time, or on ang occasion, can aggravate 
the misery of their country. This opinion may ulti- 
matelg prove to be correct." " But as the evidence on 
which it rests is," they say, " not yet conclusive," they 
recommend, for the present, the adoption of a more 
moderate course, which, if it does not avert the evil, 
will, " at least, secure consolation and success in the 
last resort." " If," they add, " the Union be destined 
to dissolution, it should, if possible, be the work of 
peaceable times, and deliberate consent. Events may 
prove that the causes of our calamities are deep and 
permanent. Whenever it shall appear that these 
causes are radical and permanent, a separation, by 



i 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 423 

equitable arrangement, will be preferable to an 
alliance by constraint, among nominal friends, but 
real enemies." They refer to Washington's flirewell 
address, and conclude from all these premises — not 
against dissolving the Union under any circumstances 
— but against "precipitate measures," since "a sever- 
ance of the Union, by one or more states, against the 
will of the rest, and especially in time of war, can be 
justified only by absolute necessity," which necessity, 
they argue, does not now exist. In the mean time, 
after pronouncing certain measures then before Con- 
gress to be unconstitutional, the report adds : " In 
cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infractions 
of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of a 
state and the liberties of the people, it is not only the 
right, but the duty of such a state to interpose its 
authority for their protection, in the manner best 
calculated to secure that end. When emergencies 
occur, which are either beyond the reach of the 
judicial tribunals, or too pressing to admit of the 
delay incident to their forms, states, which have no 
common umpire, must be their own judges, and exe- 
cute their own decision." This is, in its strongest 
form, the Virginia and South Carolina doctrine of 
nullification. "If," they say, "a different policy from 
the present should prevail, our nation may yet be 
great, our union durable. But should this prospect 



424 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

be utterly hopeless, the time will not have been lost, 
which shall have ripened a general sentiment of the 
necessity of more mighty efforts to rescue from ruin 
at least some portion of our beloved country." They 
then recommend, as their more moderate course, an 
application to Congress by the New England States, 
to enable them to assume their own defence, and for 
that purpose, that they may receive into their own 
treasuries a portion of the United States' revenue col- 
lected within their limits. They also propose seven 
amendments to the Constitution of the United States; 
the first, abolishing the slave representation; the 
second, providing that no new state shall be admitted 
into the Union without the concurrence of two-thirds 
of both Houses of Congress; the third, that no embargo 
shall be laid for more than sixty" days ; the fourth, that 
no non-intercourse law be passed but by a two-thirds' 
vote ; the fifth, no war declared but by the same vote ; 
the sixth, no naturalized citizen to hold any civil office; 
and the seventh, that no President be elected a second 
time, and no state fm^nish two Presidents in succession. 
Such were, in substance, the proceedings of the 
Hartford Convention, which closed its session by 
providing for a new Convention to meet in Boston, 
in June, in case the war should continue, or for the 
old one to meet sooner, if the committee appointed 
for that purpose should see fit to convene it. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 425 

The Treaty of Ghent not only brought peace with 
England, but put an end to nearly all the recent 
causes of party differences in this country. Impress- 
ment, claimed as a belligerent right, ceased with the 
European wars ; French decrees and British orders 
in Council had the same termination; and the non- 
intercourse, embargo, and war in America, which had 
grown out of these, expired with their causes. There 
were, therefore, no longer the old grounds of quarrel 
between the two parties ; and that which underlay 
them all, the charge of foreign influence, ceased 
thenceforth to have any foundation on either side. 
The Federalists had charged the Republicans with 
being under French influence ; and the Republicans 
retorted the charge, by imputing their conduct to 
British influence. Both these charges were, to a cer- 
tain extent, true. Not that French or British gold 
was emploj'cd to make partizans here, for either of 
those nations, though something may perhaps have 
been paid for the support of party newspapers ; but 
the popular feeling itself had fallen into a semi- 
Colonial dependence on Europe. Sympathy with 
England and abhorrence of France were motives 
povvcrful with the one party ; and attachment to 
France, admiration of Napoleon, and hatred to Eng- 
land, were hardly less powerful in the other. "Every 
Frenchman," said Governeur Morris, "bears with him 
everywhere a French heart. I honor him for it. ! 



426 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

that Americans had always an American heart ! " 
"All will end without any shedding of blood," said 
Washington, "if, instead of being Frenchmen or Eng- 
lishmen in politics, our citizens would be Americans." 
It was not till after the w^ar of 1812, that a truly 
American feeling, superior to all foreign attachments, 
obtained the entire ascendancy in our national 
councils. 

The Federal party, as a national organization, may 
be considered as having expired with the war. Patr 
riotic in its original purposes, and wise in its early 
measures, it was never a popular party ; and when, 
after its final loss of power, in 1801, it fell insensibly 
into the ordinary vices of an ojoposition, it lost, by 
degrees, its nationality of character, became sectional 
in its objects, and, ultimately, during the war, to a 
considerable extent, anti-national in its admiration of 
England, its dread of France, and its abhorrence of 
the war and its authors. Fisher Ames had at an 
earlier period expressed, in one brief but pregnant 
sentence, the opinions in which many of them 
indulged. " Our country is too big for union, too 
sordid for patriotism, and too democratic for liberty." 
Southern Federalists ceased to feel their former unity 
of purpose with those of the north; local jealousies 
were engendered, local objects pursued; and the 
final explosion of these angry feelings, in the impo- 
tence of the Hartford Convention, brought such 



1 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 427 

general odium on the expiring efforts of Northern 
Federahsm, that men, who had once borne it with 
pride, grew, at last, ashamed of a name which, in 
its earlier use, was illustrated by the wisdom and the 
virtue of Washington and Adams, of Hamilton, Jay, 
and a host of other revolutionary worthies. What 
was good in the principles of the party had been, to 
a great extent, adopted by the Republicans ; and 
the evil of its original views had been sufficiently 
exposed. 

But if the Federal party expired with the war, the 
Republican had, at the same time, well nigh lost its 
original identity. It had gradually eliminated some 
of its worst errors, both of theory and practice, and 
as gradually absorbed into itself much of what was 
best in the pohcy of its opponents. 

" The era of good feeling," which commenced with 
Mr. Monroe's administration, led to a speedy oblivion 
of old feuds ; and, for the eight years which followed, 
it w^as net easy, by anything which any man said or 
did, to determine to which of the old parties he 
belonged, or whether, indeed, there was, at that time, 
any party in the country. When, at a later period, 
parties once more emerged from the quiet of Monroe, 
into the turbulence which ensued under Adams and 
Jackson, many of the old Federal leaders were found 
to be Democrats, and as many old Republicans took 
rank as Whigs. The division turned mainly on new 



428 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

issues, and on interests little felt in the earlier clays 
of the R-epublic. The funding system, the arm}', and 
the navy, had lost their interest in the questions of 
the tariff and internal improvement, and in the first 
stirrings of that yet deeper and more important 
question of the extension or the restriction of 
slavery. 

Mr. Plumer early saw the change of parties which 
this change in the affairs of the country was about to 
produce, and felt it his duty to accelerate, as far as 
in him lay, the oblivion of past controversies, and to 
aid in the introduction of a policy more liberal and 
more comprehensive, in relation both to men and to 
measures. While party feelings had degenerated 
with many into personal animosities, he had kept up 
his social relations with his old Federalist friends, both 
by correspondence and by personal intercourse. He 
knew the good men of both parties, and the good 
points in both their creeds ; and his aim was to bring 
them together in combined action for the public good. 
The old party feelings were, however, still strong on 
both sides ; the Federalists exasperated by defeat, 
the Republicans warm with the excitement of recent 
strife. The heat of the contest had, indeed, as yet, 
very little abated. The antagonist muscles required 
time to soften and relax from the extreme tension of 
earnest and long-continued action. Tiiis relaxation 
did not come in season for the March elections in 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 429 

New Hampshire ; and Governor Oilman was accord- 
ingly re-elected. So doubtful, however, was the 
contest, that, counting all the votes thrown, his 
majority w\as found to be only thirty-five. It was 
his last year. During the w^hole period from 1812 to 
1817, neither party w\as strong enough to feel confi- 
dent of victory, and neither so weak as to despair of 
success. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE.— (CONTINUED.) 

I FIND little among Mr Plumer's papers in the year 
following the peace, which need be here introduced. 
Two extracts from his journal may be given, as 
touching upon subjects either already noticed here, 
or which will come up at a later period. 

September 16tli, 1815. " On the 7lli instant, I set out with 
my wife on a visit to our friends in Massachusetts, and to-day 
returned home. My visit to Newburyport, where I was 
born, and to Newbury Old Town, the original seat of the 
Plumer family, was productive, in my mind, of many inter- 
esting remembrances and reflections. In this ten days' excur- 
sion, I have been everywhere treated with great respect and 
attention ; but the journey, and my long and frequent 
conversations, fatigued me. At Salem, I spent an afternoon 
with Joseph Story, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court 
of the United States. He said, the judges of that court had 
informally considered the question whether the Governor of 
a state was bound, on the requisition of the President, to 
order the militia into the service of the United States. He 
could, he said, discover no diversity of sentiment among them ; 
he believed they were unanimously of opinion that the Gov- 
ernors were bound to obey the requisition ; and regretted that 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 431 

neither the President nor Congress had required their opinion 
on the subject. He complimented me on my speech to the 
Legislature in November, 1812, upon the question of ordering 
out the militia ; and said that my reasoning appeared to him 
conclusive. He mentioned, of his own accord, that he had 
considered the law of New Hampshire, of 1813, establish- 
ing the new judiciary, and was of opinion that it was 
unconstitutional." 

September 30th, 1815. "I spent an hour in social, free 
conversation with Governor Oilman. He condemned, with 
great frankness, the remcA'al of John Wheelock from the 
Presidency of Dartmouth College. He said it Avas injudici- 
ous and improper." 

This removal of Wheelock brought the affairs of 
the college before the Legislature, and led to a vigor- 
ous, but finally unsuccessful attempt to remodel and 
improve that important institution. 

The spring elections of 1816 resulted in the entire 
success of the Republican party in New Hampshire. 
Governor Gilman, from the increasing infirmities of 
age, and, probably, from a conviction that he could 
not again be elected, declined being a candidate. His 
place was supplied by James Sheafe, — a respectable 
merchant of Portsmouth, probably, at that time, the 
richest mail in the state. He had been imprisoned as 
a Tory, during the revolution; but, like many other 
honest loyalists, he had found this circumstance not 
incompatible with the possession, at a later period, of 



432 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the public favor. The people, though zealous in the 
cause of independence, were not vindictive or intol- 
erant in their feelings ; and "svhen the danger ^Yas 
past, they looked to men's present conduct, rather 
than to their former opinions on a subject respecting 
which men might fairly differ. Sheafe had been 
elected Senator in Congress, in 1802, but had held his 
seat only one session. His opposition to the war of 
1812 was now urged against him, as a proof that the f 
Tory of the revolution was still the devoted partizan 
of the mother country. It was, perhaps, as an offset 
to this charge of toryism in Sheafe, that the story 
was told respecting Governor Plunier's being arrested 
for the same offence, during the revolution, as related 
in a former chapter. This story was at once contra- 
dicted; and the facts respecting Sheafe, though 
known, probably deprived him of very few votes. 
Of the whole number thrown, he had 18,326, and 
Mr. Plumer 20,652. This was the largest popular 
vote ever thrown in the state. It is curious to 
observe the increasing interest taken in politics by 
the mass of the j)eople, as shown by the yearly 
increase of the votes. In 1790, the whole number 
thrown for chief magistrate was in the proportion 
of one vote to seventeen of the inhabitants ; in 
1800, one to eleven; in 1810, one to seven; and 
in 1810, one to less than six. This augurs well of 
the people, as it shows an increasing interest in 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 433 

their own affairs, and a determination not to lose 
their rights by a neglect of the elective franchise. 
When the result of the election was known, the 
Governor received many congratulations from his 
correspondents on his success; and among others, 
March 22d, 1816, the following from Richard Rush, 
then Attorney-General of the United States, after- 
wards Secretary of the Treasury, and Minister to 
England : 

*'I beg leave to offer to you my cordial congratulations 
upon the happy issue of the election in New Hampshire. May 
the great cause of Republicanism go on thus to triumph in the 
states about you. May Massachusetts be so fortunate, in her 
turn, as to get her Dexter ; thereby serving more and more to 
disappoint all the efforts and the hopes of those who know not 
how to value our noble institutions." 

This aspiration respecting Dexter was not answered, 
as he died, May 4th, 1816, soon after it was made. 

April 17th, 1816. " Spent the day at Portsmouth ; received 
much attention from men of both parties. My rival, James 
Sheafe, took an early opportunity of calling upon me at my 
lodgings, and politely urged me to dine with him ; but my 
engagements prevented me." 

It may be here added, that he kept up, during life, 
a friendly intercourse with many worthy men who 
were his political opponents ; and that his personal 
respect for them was never impaired by the warmth 



I 



434 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of these party contests. He wielded boldly and 
unsparingly against them all the weapons of political 
warfare ; but it was without malice or personal ill-will. 

May 18th, 1816. "1 have been requested to be a candi- 
date for Senator in Congress, but have refused. I want no 
office whatever ; but if I am to be in the public service, I 
prefer that of Governor." 

June 4th, " Perceiving, from the applications made to me 
by gentlemen from various towns, as to when I should set out 
for Concord, that measures were preparing for a numerous 
escort, I resolved to proceed thither without waiting to be 
officially informed of my election. Early in the afternoon I 
arrived at Concord." 

5th. '^ Spent the day at my lodgings, without making any 
visits, except one of ceremony to Governor Gilman, whom I 
found afflicted with the gout. He received me with polite- 
ness, and appeared in good spirits. The calls upon me were 
many ; and among others was one from the Reverend Dr. 
Parish. The moment his name was announced, my writing 
the ' Layman ' occurred to my recollection. His attachment 
to President Wheelock, and his belief of my aiding Dartmouth 
College, gave him pleasure in visiting me, though he knew I 
had zealously supported the late war, to which he was out- 
rageously opposed. On telling him that my health was good 
for one of my slender constitution, he replied, with an empha- 
sis, ' In that we harmonize.' He is man of strong passions, 
governed by feeling more than reason." 

6th. " At twelve o'clock, I met the two Houses, in the 
Representatives' Hall, and found the galleries and avenues 



4 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 485 

crowded. After I liad taken the affirmation of office, I 
delivered my speech, which occupied about twenty minutes. 
After dinner. Dr. Parish spent two hours with me very 
pleasantly." 

Parish was warmly interested in behalf of Dr. 
Wheelock, and wrote afterwards to Judge Woodward : 
" We rejoice, we exult, in the firmness, constancy and 
success of Governor Plumer, to whom I pray you to 
give my thanks for the noble part he has taken in 
defence of our venerable friend." 

Among the subjects recommended by the Gov- 
ernor to the attention of the Leo;islature were the 
encouragement of manufactures by exempting them, 
for a limited period, from taxes; the districting of 
the state for the choice of electors and members of 
Congress ; the reduction of salaries ; and the subject 
of jury trials. The first of these recommendations 
was adopted, and had the efiect, with other liberal 
provisions of the laws, to draw much foreign capital 
into the state, greatly to the benefit of its industry, 
wealth, and population. The districting recommended 
by him has since been adopted, as to members of 
Congress, but not as to electors. The reduction of 
salaries was a more popular measure ; and the rare 
example of a Governor recommending the reduction 
of his own salary, was sure to find favor with the 
Legislature. He had attempted the same reduction, 



436 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

without success, in 1797; and, now that it affected' 
his own remuneration, he was not less disposed to 
urge it. Writing to John Quincy Adams, (July 30th,) 
he said: "The great anxiety that too many of our 
countrymen discover for office, as the means of 
acquiring money — a motive too sordid to exist with, 
much less to cherish, patriotism — induced me to 
recommend a system of economy in relation to 
salaries. It was a feeble effort to inspire the people 
with more noble motives and more exalted views, 
than pecuniary rewards produce; to allure them with 
the love of fame and of the public good." His ideas on 
this subject were well responded to in a letter, which 
he afterwards received from Mr. Adams, (July 6th, 
1818.) "I am convinced," says Mr. Adams, "that 
it is just and patriotic to make all offices of high 
trust and honor rather burdensome than lucrative. 
Real patriotism will cheerfully bear some pecuniary 
sacrifice ; and the appetite of ambition for place is 
sufficiently sharp-set, without needing the stimulant 
dram of avarice to make it keener." 

With respect to trials by jury, there had, in his 
opinion, been too great a disposition, of late, in the 
courts to set aside verdicts, and thus to arrogate too 
much authority in the trial of cases ; but it may be 
doubted whether the limitation he recommended of 
the power of the court to set aside verdicts, to cases of 
bribery or corruption, would contribute to the stabil- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 437 

ity or the uniformity of the law, by making it depend 
jDractically for its rules of action on the feelings or 
the opinions of jurors, instead of the knowledge and 
experience of the judges, l^o law was passed on the 
subject. 

The Governor's care for the rights of conscience 
and of jDrivate judgment in matters of religion, was 
evinced by his recommendation to grant acts of 
incorporation to religious societies, in all cases, and 
to all sects who applied for them. 

But the two most important topics of the Gov- 
ernor's speech were those relating to Dartmouth 
College, and to the judiciary acts of 1813. The 
latter w^ere considered by the Republicans as un- 
constitutional, and, as such, to be repealed without 
delay. This repeal passed, by a strictly party vote, 
in the House, yeas 97, nays 83 ; in the Senate, yeas 
8, nays 4. It was signed by the Governor, June 
27, 1816. Several important questions were at once 
raised by this act. The first was as to the effect of 
the repeal on the judges of the courts so abolished. 
By some, it was contended that, the law under which 
they acted being unconstitutional, they were, from 
the beginning, usurpers, and that no action need be 
had in relation to them. But the safer opinion seemed 
to be that, being judges de facto, if not de jure, they 
were " entitled to the same rights, immunities and 
privileges in their office as other judges ; " and, there- 



438 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

fore, that, if they were removed, it must be under the 
constitutional provision, on address of the Legishi- 
ture, by the Governor and Council. This was accord- 
ingly done. The next question was as to the judges 
of the old courts; and it was thought advisable to 
remove them also. When this was done, the state 
presented the singular spectacle of a Commonwealth 
without judges. The next step proposed was the turn- 
ing out of the Federalist sheriffs, appointed on the 
removal of Messrs. Pierce and Butler. An address to 
that effect passed the Senate, but was postponed in 
the House, on an intimation of the Governor that 
the measure would be, in his opinion, illegal. 

The law respecting Dartmouth College grew out of 
difficulties between the Trustees of that institution 
and its President, John Wheelock, which had resulted. 
in his removal from office. The subject was noticed] 
in the speech of the Governor, who, after referring to] 
what he regarded as defects in the charter of the 
college, recommended to the Legislature to "make] 
such further provisions as will render this important 
institution more useful to mankind." The act passed, 
June 27th, 1816, in pursuance of this recommenda- 
tion, changed the name of the institution from College] 
to University; increased the number of the Trustees 
from twelve to twenty-one ; and created a board of] 
Overseers, consisting of twenty-five members. These : 
latter were to be appointed by the Governor and 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 439 

Council ; as were also, in the first instance, the new 
Trustees. "My object," said the Governor, " is not lim- 
ited to the restoration of Wheelock. It is to establish 
the authority of the Legislature over the institution, so 
far as to secure to the people the objects for which it 
was founded, and to form a useful connection between 
the government and the college." In the appoint- 
ment of Trustees and Overseers he introduced men of 
both political jDarties, and of all the prominent relig- 
ious sects. The college government had been hitherto 
Calvinistic in its religion, and Federalist in its politics. 
His appointments brought both political parties into 
each board, without giving any one religious sect the 
preponderance in either. Dr. Parish having Avritten 
to him, expressing the hope that a man's being a 
Federalist would not prevent his being elected an 
officer of the institution, he said, in reply, "It has 
been a subject of deep regret to me that the cause of 
Dartmouth University has been considered a party 
question. My political opponents made it such, in 
hopes of obtaining support to their party politics. 
But, had I the power of appointing the officers of the 
University, I would select those men only for office 
who are best qualified, without regard to the religious 
sect or political party to which they are attached." 
The act itself provided that perfect freedom of relig- 
ious opinions should be enjoyed by all the officers and 
students of the University ; and that no officer or 



440 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

student should be deprived of any honors, privileges, 
or benefits of the institution, on account of his religious 
creed or belief It was an essential part of his plan 
that the state should extend a liberal patronage to 
the University, and make it, what it had never yet 
been, a well-endowed institution. Into the private 
feuds of Hanover, or the quarrel between Wheelock 
and the old Trustees, he felt no disposition to enter ; 
but the occasion seemed to him a fit one, to give to 
the college a less sectarian character, and to plant it 
firmly on the broad ground of Christian liberality, 
sound learning, and Republican polity. 

The following letter from Mr. Jefferson was in 
acknowledgment of a copy of the Message, contain- 
ino; the above-named recommendations. 

"MoNTicELLO, July 21st, 1816. 
" I thank you, sir, for the copy you have been so good as 
to send me of your late speech to the Legislature of your 
state, which I have read a second time with great pleasure, 
as I had before done in the public papers. It is replete with 
sound principles, and truly Republican. Some articles, too, 
are worthy of notice. The idea that institutions, established 
for the use of the nation, cannot be touched nor modified, 
even to make them answer their end, because of rights gratu- 
itously supposed in those employed to manage them in trust 
for the public, may, perhaps, be a salutary provision against 
the abuses of a monarch, but it is most absurd against the 
nation itself. Yet our lawyers and priests generally incul- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 441 

cate this doctrine ; and suppose that preceding generations 
held the earth more freely than we do ; had a right to impose 
laws on us, unalterable by ourselves ; and that we, in like 
manner, can make laws, and impose burdens on future gen- 
erations, which they will have no right to alter ; in fine, 
that the earth belongs to the dead, and not to the living. I 
remark, also, the phenomenon of a chief magistrate recom- 
mending the reduction of his own compensation. This is a 
solecism of which the wisdom of our late Congress cannot be 
accused. I, however, place economy among the first and most 
important of Republican virtues, and public debt as the great- 
est of the dangers to be feared. We see in England the con- 
sequences of the want of it, — their laborers reduced to live on 
a penny in the shilling of their earnings, to give up bread, 
and resort to oatmeal and potatoes for food ; and their land- 
holders exiling themselves to live in penury and obscurity 
abroad, because at home the government must have all the 
clear profits of their land. In fact, they see the fee-simple of 
the island transferred to the public creditors, and all its 
profits going to them for the interest of their debts. Our 
laborers and landholders must come to this also, unless they 
severely adhere to the economy you recommend. I salute 
you with entire esteem and respect. 

"Thomas Jefferson." 

On the adjournment of the Legislature, the Gover- 
nor and Council proceeded to appoint the Judges of 
the Superior Court and Common Pleas. It had been 
easy to turn out the old judges, but it was not found 
so easy to appoint new ones in their places. The 



442 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

removed judges were Federalists; and the Republican 
Councillors, flushed with their recent party victory, 
felt called upon to retaliate on the intolerance of 
their opponents, by ajopointing none but Republicans 
to office. But the Governor told them, at their first 
meeting, that the minority had rights, which it 
became him to respect, however little others had 
done so ; and that he could not consent to have all 
the judges selected from one political party. 

July 1st, 1816. "Early in the morning, I met the Coun- 
cil ; and, after spending some time in talking upon the sub- 
ject of appointments, we proceeded to make nominations of 
Judges of the Superior Court. I named Jeremiah Mason, 
William M. Richardson, and Samuel Bell. The Council 
unanimously agreed to nominate Richardson. The Republi- 
cans nominated Bell ; but the Federalists opposed him on 
account of his conduct as President of the Hillsborough 
Bank. A majority declined nominating Mason. I then 
proposed George B. Uj^ham, a Federalist, a good lawyer, and 
a man of an irreproachable moral character. The, two Fed- 
eral Councillors zealously supported, and the three Republi- 
cans as decidedly opposed him. We then endeavored to fix 
upon a Chief Justice for the Eastern District. Clifton Clag- 
gett and Daniel M. Durell were named. The question 
being taken on nominating Claggett, two of the Council were 
for him, and three against him. A majority could not be 
obtained for Durell, or any other man. William H. Wood- 
ward was unanimously agreed upon as Chief Justice of the 
Western District." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 443 

2d. " Met the Council early in the morning ; urged the 
nomination of Upham ; but the Republican Councillors de- 
clined agreeing to him. We then conversed on a candidate 
for Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for the First Dis- 
trict ; and it Avas agreed to nominate Durell. A majority 
of the Council finally agreed to nominate Upham for the 
Superior Court. We then signed the nomination of all the 
seventeen judges, the number necessary to be appointed. 
Some of them were not such as I should have nominated, if 
I had possessed the sole power of appointment ; but they 
were the best I could induce the Council to agree to." 

3d. " A majority of the Board agreed upon the lot upon 
which the State House should be erected." 

4th. " Fixed the site for the State House." 

5th. '' Met the Council, and appointed those we had 
nominated for judges, and also a Committee to build the 
State House. After breakfast, I rode to Epsom, to see my 
sister." 

6th. " In the morning, I pursued my journey home on 
horseback. At Deerfield line, I was met by an escort, which 
continued to increase till I reached my own house, there 
being more than five hundred gentlemen on horseback. The 
concourse of people was great, more than fifteen hundred at 
the house. They behaved very well ; and by eight in the 
evening they all left me." 

The appointment of Federalists to office by a Re- 
publican Executive was an act of justice and liberal- 
ity, which neither party knew how duly to appreciate. 
The leaders of the Federal party had not given over 



444 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the hope of regaining their lost ascendency in the 
state ; and they saw that if, co-operating with the 
liberal policy of the Governor, some of their ablest 
men took seats on the bench by his appointment, it 
would not be easy, under any local issues which they 
could raise, now that the old national ones were 
closed, to rally the party strength for a new contest. 
Upham, who was appointed to the Superior Court, 
told me, many years after, (June 4, 1847,) that he 
had, at first, determined to accept the office ; but, on 
coming to Concord, he was advised by Thomas W. 
Thompson and other Federalists not to do so ; that, 
on his way to Portsmouth, to consult Mr. Mason on 
the subject, he was told by Eoswell Stevens, of Pem- 
broke, that Amos Kent, of Chester, had, on the advice 
of Daniel Webster, declined the judgeship offered 
him ; and that other Federalists appointed would do 
the same. On hearing this he returned home, and 
notified the Governor that he declined the appoint- 
ment, though he should, he said, have been happy, 
under other circumstances, with the concurrence of 
his friends, to accept it. The Federal party could 
hardly have made a greater mistake than to reject 
the olive branch thus offered to them, at a time when 
their power was, practically, at an end, not in the 
state only, but throughout the Union. Yet such was 
still the inveteracy of feeling with many, that the 
Governor was, soon after, informed that one Federal- 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 445 

ist whom lie had appointed a judge, not content with 
dechning the office, had nailed up his commission in 
a grog-shop ; thus exposing it to the derision of its 
inmates, and himself hardly less to the pity, or the 
contempt, of all moderate and reflecting men. Wil- 
liam H. Woodward was the only Federalist, out of 
seven appointed judges, who accepted the office. 
" Though in making these appointments, I haA' e been 
directed," says the Governor, "by what I consider 
the public interest, I am sensible I have made -per- 
sonal enemies. The disposition of offices makes 
many enemies, and but few friends. What is worse, 
I am held responsible for all ap2oointments, but have 
not the power to appoint, in all cases, those whom I 
consider best qualified." 

Not discouraged by his ill success thus far. Gover- 
nor Plumer made one more attempt to exclude 
politics from the temple of justice, and thus to 
secure the confidence of all parties in the impartial- 
ity, as well as in the ability of the courts of law, — an 
object which he justly regarded as second to none 
which he could accomplish in the appointments 
which he had to make. For this purpose, he sought 
to place his old friend Jeremiah Mason, as Chief 
Justice, on the Bench of the Superior Court. Hich- 
ardson, who held that office, offered to resign, and 
take a side-seat under Mason. When applied to m 
person by the Governor, Mr. Mason seemed, at first, 



446 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

not displeased with the offer, but doubted whether he 
could be appointed. " Your views/' he said. " are too 
liberal for your party. Your Council will not con- 
sent to my appointment." The Governor afterwards 
wrote to him on the subject. "It is an office worthy 
of your ambition ; and one which I hope you will 
hold, till you are removed to the Bench of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States." In his answer, 
(August 18th, 1816,) Mr. Mason said : 

" I am sensible of the honor which you do me in your 
letter of the 7th instant. Could I flatter myself with the be- 
lief of possessing the necessary qualifications, the proposed 
office would certainly satisfy my highest ambition. There 
would, however, still remain two objections, which to me 
appear insuperable. The salary allowed by the present law 
appears to me wholly inadequate. My other objection arises 
from the late organization of the Court. After thus stating 
the reasons which prevent my complying with your proposal, 
I trust it is unnecessary to add that political considerations, 
which, in these times, are often sujjposed to determine every- 
thing, have, with me, on this subject, no influence." 

In a pecuniary point of view, the decision was 
undoubtedly correct, the salary bearing no compari- 
son with what he received for his services at the bar. 
But had he accepted the office, besides the service 
rendered the state, he could have built up for himself, 
in the twenty-two years for which he might have 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 441 

held it, a judicial reputation such as no New England 
judge has ever yet attained. As Mason declined 
going upon the Bench, Richardson remained Chief 
Justice ; and the place which Upham had refused, 
was ultimately conferred on Levi Woodbury. Wood- 
bury, called in derision, at the time, "the baby judge," 
Avas not quite twenty-seven years old. He was then 
Secretary of the Senate, and thought of by nobody 
as judge, perhaps not even by himself But the keen 
eye and quick discernment of the Governor, with 
whom he boarded, at the house of Isaac Hill, had 
seen enough, during the session, to satisfy him that 
he was qualified for the place, and would do no dis- 
credit, in later life, to his early patron. Nor did 
Woodbury disappoint these expectations. He was 
afterwards Governor of the State, Senator in Con- 
gress, Secretary of the Navy and of the Treasury, 
and died Judge of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, with the near prospect, had he lived a year 
longer, of being President. Thirty-five years after 
this first appointment, on occasion of Woodbury's 
death, the Attorney General, Walker, spoke of " the 
venerable Plumer," and characterized him as " that 
great and unerring judge of the heads and the hearts of 
men," — terms, in their full import, inapplicable to man, 
but, in a lower sense, not ill describing the knowledge 
of human nature, for which he was distinguished. 



448 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

After filling this and other vacancies in the courts, 
the Governor sajs, in his journal : 

" These appointments have relieved me from much anxiety. 
Our courts of law were never before filled by men so well 
qualified for their places as are the present judges. I have 
had great trouble, and incurred great odium ; but the intol- 
erance of others has been, and shall be, no rule for me. My 
liberality gains me no credit with either party. But I will 
do my duty ; and when I retire to private life, I shall enjoy a 
richer reward than that of office." 

October 3d, 1816. "I am informed that, before my elec- 
tion in March, the President had determined to appoint me 
Commissioner, under the late treaty with England, to run 
the line between the United States and Canada ; but my 
election made this improper. This was an office unsought, 
and unthought of by me. I have recently been requested 
to nominate an agent from this state to attend the Com- 
missioners." 

It appears, too, from a statement of Mr. Mason, that 
he was, about this time, spoken of as likely to succeed 
his friend, Adams, as minister to Russia. But this 
was an office for which, with his ignorance of French, 
he would have thought himself unfit. 

To Judge Woodward he wrote, (August 10th, 
1816:) 

" I intend to be in Hanover in season ; but you must ex- 
cuse me from meeting an escort. It has been an object with 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 449 

me, through life, to avoid parade. It is troublesome to my 
friends, and painful to me, as ill according with my views of 
the simplicity of a Republican government. I feel a grateful 
sense of the value of public approbation. But to enjoy the 
consciousness of having merited it, is to me a sufficient 
reward for the toils of office, and the calumnies of the ignorant 
and the designing. You will, therefore, be so obliging as to 
make my compliments to Colonel Poole and my Hanover 
friends, and dissuade them from taking the trouble to meet 
me on the road." 



In his speech to the Legislature, (November 20th, 
1816,) the Governor confined himself chiefly to the 
affairs of the State, those of the Union not requiring, 
from him, since the return of peace, more than a 
passing notice. The strict notions of economy in the 
public expenditures, which, on a former occasion, had 
prompted him to recommend the reduction of salaries,, 
including his own, now showed itself in various sug- 
gestions made by him in relation to the fees of 
sheriffs, treasurers, clerks, and other county officers.. 
These were, in part, adopted by the Legislature, and 
led to some useful improvements in the laws on this 
subject. Among other matters adverted to in the 
speech were the building of the State House, the 
funding of the treasury notes received from the Gen- 
eral Government, and the affairs of the University. 
It soon appeared that, in relation to the two former 

29 



450 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

of these, and indeed, with respect to his administra- 
tion generally, the Governor was now to encounter, 
among his own party, an opposition more envenomed, 
if j)0ssible, than he had before experienced from his 
Federalist opponents. Messrs. Morrill, Pierce, Claggett, 
Quarles, and Butler, the very leaders of the Republi- 
can party, were, for various reasons, unfriendly to 
him. Morrill, at that time Speaker, was afterwards 
Senator in Congress, and Governor of the State; 
Pierce and Quarles were members of the Council, 
and the former was afterwards Governor. Claggett 
had been judge of the Superior Court ; and both he 
and Butler were members of the House, and after- 
wards elected to Congress. These acknowledged 
leaders of the party might reasonably be expected, 
in any given case, to be too strong, by their united 
force, for any individual who refused submission to 
their will. Morrill, as Speaker, appointed Committees 
on the State House and the Treasury Note business, 
who reported unfavorably to the action of the Gov- 
ernor in both these cases. He had received from the 
General Government forty thousand dollars in treasury 
notes, bearing an interest of 5| per cent., on account 
of military services in the late war, and had funded 
the sum at the loan office, receiving United States 
six per cent, stock for the amount due on the notes. 
The committee thought he ought to have sold the 
notes, which were at a great discount in the market, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 451 

and put the proceeds in the treasury, or bought 
United States stock with it. This notion of turning 
broker, and speculating with the public funds, had 
never occurred to the Governor, who disposed of the 
United States notes, as Governor Gilman, with the 
approbation of the Legislature, had, the year before, 
done with those received by him. 

The location of the new State House, whether 
north or south of a given line, on the Main Street in 
Concord, was a question in which it might have been 
thought few would take much interest, except the 
dwellers on that street. Yet it excited a furious 
contest, not only in the town, but among the mem- 
bers of the Legislature, and through the state. As 
the spot selected by the Governor and Council was 
at a considerable distance south of the old State 
House, the people at the north end, with whom 
nearly all the members of the Legislature had 
hitherto boarded, were likely, by the new location, 
to lose thenceforth this monopoly. The clamor 
which they raised was in proportion to their sup- 
posed interest in the question; and it was soon 
found that many of the members were deeply 
infected with the feelings and the prejudices of 
their landlords on this subject, — "representatives," 
as Toppan, of Hampton, said, " of their respective 
boarding houses, rather than of the state." The spot 
selected was denounced as " a quagmire, and a frog- 



452 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

pond ; " and Colonel Prescott, of JafFrey, amused the 
House with an account of the frogs he had seen 
leaping about in the cellar, which might be ex- 
pected, at some future session, should the court be 
held there, " to make as much noise in it," he said, 
"as I do now." The Council had been divided on the 
location; and as the Governor's influence was sup- 
posed mainly to have settled the question, the odium 
of the measure, with those who disliked it, fell chiefly 
on him. The report of the committee was, however, 
rejected by the House, yeas 73, nays 84 ; and it is 
now generally admitted that no better spot could 
have been selected. 

Many timid Republicans were alarmed at these 
divisions in the party. "But difficulties," said the 
Governor, in a letter to me at the time, " neither 
embarrass, nor discourage me ; and I seldom desjDond. 
I have always found that what people call dangers 
appear greater at a distance, than when near at 
hand." It was in the midst of these excitements, 
increased as they were by the Governor's putting his 
veto on a bill which had just passed both Houses by 
very strong majorities, and when, by many, it was 
believed that his popularity was gone forever, that 
he received the most convincing proof that, however 
certain leaders might be disaffected, the great mass 
of the party did justice to his motives, and had lost 
none of their confidence in his integrity. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 453 

Under date of December lYtli, 1816, he says: 

" The Repubhcans met this evening, to nominate a candi- 
date for Governor for the next year. Ninety-three members 
attended, — a larger number than at any other caucus this 
session. General Pierce, in the chair, opened the meeting by 
observing that the Republicans were much divided, and 
would not probably be able to agree upon a candidate. He 
therefore proposed that the subject be postponed. Claggett 
seconded the motion, and was followed by Butler on the same 
side. Two or three other members replied, and the motion 
was negatived. On counting the ballots for a candidate, there 
w5re, for David L. Morrill, one ; for Levi Bartlett, seven ; and 
eighty-five for me. The two Councillors and the Speaker, 
with Butler and Claggett, could get only three other members 
to vote with them. Theij want a Governor whom they can 
govern. I am not altogether such a one." 

It was not without pleasure that, amidst the vio- 
lence of these factious discontents, he received the 
following letter from his friend, John Quincy Adams, 
at that time Minister to England : 

"His Excellency William Pltjmer, 
Governor of New Hampshire. 

" Ealing, near London, January 17th, 1817. 
" My Dear Sir, — I am yet to acknowledge the receipt of 
your two obliging favors of 6th March and 30th July last, 
the latter enclosing a copy of your speech to the Legislature. 
During the whole time that I have enjoyed the happiness of 
an acquaintance and friendship with you, there has been so 



/ 



454 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

general a coincidence of sentiment between us upon all the 
objects of concernment to our country, which have succes- 
sively arisen, that I can ascribe it to no other cause than to 
the similitude, or rather the identity, of our political and moral 
principle* It was, therefore, not possible for me to read 
your excellent speech without great pleasure, and I was much 
gratified to see that its merits did not escape public notice, 
even in this country. It was republished entire in one of the 
newspapers of the most extensive circulation ; not as, during 
our late war, some of our Governors' speeches were repub- 
lished, to show the subserviency of the speakers to the hulivark 
of our holy religion, and to the press-gang, but professedly 
for the pure, and patriotic, and genuine Republican sentiments 
with which it abounded. It has been a truly cheering con- 
templation to me to see that the people of New Hampshire 
have recovered from the delusions of that unprincipled faction, 
which, under the name of Federalism, was driving them to the 
dissolution of the Union, and, under the name of Washington, 
to British recolonization, — to see them returning to the coun- 
sels of sober and moderate men, who are biased by no feelings 
but those of public spirit, and by no interests but those of 
their country. Such a person, I well knew, they had found 
in you, and such, I hope, you will find in your present and 
future coadjutors. Although the progress of reformation 
has not been so rapid and effectual in our native state as it 
has been with you, yet the tendency of the public opinion has 
been steadily, since the peace, in, that direction, as it has been 
throughout the Union ; and, as that faction cannot fail to sink 
in proportion as the country prospers, I do not despair of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 455 

seeing the day when the poHcy of all the state governments 
will be in unison with that of the nation. 

" We have lately received what may be termed President 
Madison's valedictory message to Congress ; and grateful 
indeed must it be to his feelings to compare the condition of the 
country, at the close of his administration, with the turbulent 
and perilous state in which it was at the period of his first 
election. It will be the great duty of his successor, and of 
the Congress with which he is to operate, to use diligently 
the days of peace to prepare the nation for other trials, which 
are probably not far distant, and which, sooner or later, cannot 
fail to arise. Your speech most justly remarks that the late 
war raised our public character in the estimation of the other 
nations ; but we cannot be too profoundly impressed with the 
sentiment that it has by no means added to the number of our 
friends. In this country more particularly, it is impossible for 
me to disguise to myself that the national feeling of animosity 
and rancor against America and the Americans, is more uni- 
versal and more bitter than it was before the war, A con- 
siderable part of the British nation then despised us ; and 
contempt is a feeling far less active in spurring to acts of 
hostility than hatred and fear, which have taken its place. No 
Briton of any party ever imagined that we should be able to 
maintain a contest against them upon the ocean. Very few 
among ourselves expected it. Our victories, both by sea and 
land, though intermingled with defeats and disasters, which 
ice ought to remember more studiously than our triumphs, 
have placed our character, as a martial nation, upon a level 
with the most respectable nations of Europe ; but the effect 
here has been to unite all parties in the conviction that we are 



456 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

destined to be the most formidable of the enemies and rivals 
of their naval power. Now the navy is so universally the 
idol of this nation, that there is not a statesman of any descrip- 
tion or party, who dares befriend anything opposed to it, or 
look with other than hostile eyes to anything that threatens its 
glory or portends its downfall. The opposition party, and its 
leaders before the war, were much more liberally disposed 
towards America than the ministerialists ; but, after the war 
commenced, they joined the ministers in full pack ; and, since 
the peace, their party tactics have constantly been to cavil 
against any liberality or concession of the ministers to America. 
The issue of the late European wars has been to give for the 
moment, though it will not last long, to the British govern- 
ment, an ascendency of influence over the whole continent 
of Europe, which they will naturally use to inspire preju- 
dices and jealousies against us. There is already, in all the 
governments of Europe, a strong prejudice against us as 
Republicans, or as the primary cause of the propagation of 
those political principles, which still make the throne of every 
European monarch rock under him, as with the throes of an 
earthquake. 

" With Spain we are, and have been for years, on the verge 
of war. Nothing but the impotence of the Spanish govern- 
ment has hitherto prevented the explosion, and we have so 
many collisions of interest as well as of principles with Spain, 
that it is not only the court, but the nation, which hates and 
fears us. 

" In France, the government, besides being in tutelage 
under Britain, have feelings against America, more venom- 
ous even than the British. The mass of the French nation 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 457 

have no sucli feelings^ but tliey have no attachment to us, or 
friendship for us. Their own condition absorbs all their 
feelings, and they would delight at seeing us at war 
with Great Britain, because they flatter themselves that 
would operate as a diversion in their favor, and perhaps 
enable them to break the yoke under which they are 
groaning. 

" We have claims for indemnities against the governments 
of France, Spain, the Netherlands, Naples, and Denmark, the 
justice of which they do not admit, and which nothing but 
necessity will ever bring them to acknowledge. 

"The very pursuit of those claims has a tendency to 
embroil us with those nations, as has been fully exemplified in 
the result of Mr. Pinkney's late mission to Naples, and yet, 
as the claims are just, they ought not to be abandoned. The 
states of Barbary owe us a heavy grudge for the chastise- 
ments we have inflicted upon all of them, and for the example 
first set by us to the European nations, of giving them battle 
instead of tribute, and of breaking up their system of piracy. 
We have, therefore, enemies in almost every part of the world, 
and few or no friends anywhere. If there be an exception, 
it is in Kussia ; but even there the shameful misconduct of 
the Russian Consul-General at Philadelphia, and the infamous 
manner in which he has been abetted by the minister, Dasch- 
koff", have produced a coldness on the part of the Emperor 
which endangered at least the harmony of the relations 
between the two countries. 

"Add to all this that there is a vague and general senti- 
ment of speculative and forecasting jealousy against us pre- 
vailing all over Europe. We are considered not merely as an 



458 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

active and enterprising, but as a grasping and ambitious people. 
We are supposed to have inherited all the bad qualities of 
the British character, Avithout some of those of which other 
nations in their dealings with the British have made their 
advantage. They ascribe to us all the British rapacity, with- 
out allowing us the credit of the British profusion. The 
universal feeling of Europe, in witnessing the gigantic growth 
of our population and power, is that we shall, if united, be- 
come a very dangerous member of the society of nations. 
They therefore hope, what they confidently expect, that we 
shall not long remain united ; that, before we shall have 
attained the strength of national manhood, our Union will be 
dissolved, and that we shall break up into two or more 
nations, in opposition against one another. The conclusion 
from all which that we must draw is, to do justice invariably 
to every nation, and, at the same time, to fix our military, naval, 
and fiscal establishments upon a foundation adequate to our 
defence, and enabhng us to obtain justice in return from 
them. 

" I have not yet been able to procure for you Adair's 
History of the Indians, but I have found, at a very moderate 
price, a complete set of the Bemembrancer, including the 
prior documents, all in eleven volumes, which I propose to 
send you by the Galen, to sail about the first of March. 

" I remain, with great respect and attachment, dear sir, 
your friend and humble servant, 

*^JoHN QuiNCY Adams." 

The Trustees of the University were required by 
the law under which they were appointed to meet 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 459 

on the 26th of August ; but as they failed at that time 
to form a quorum, it was not till the Legislature in 
November authorized them to meet at a different 
time, that they were organized as a board. Nine out 
of twelve of the old Trustees declined accepting the 
new law, and refused to act under it. They continued 
to act under the old charter ; and instituted a suit 
against Judge Woodward, the Treasurer of the Uni- 
versity, to try the validity of the new law. This 
suit was decided against them in November, 1817, 
by the Superior Court, which pronounced the law 
constitutional, in an elaborate and ably reasoned 
opinion delivered by Chief Justice Richardson. The 
case was carried up to Washington, and finally 
decided, in the Supreme Court, in favor of the old 
Trustees ; upon the ground that the law was a viola- 
tion of that clause of the Constitution of the United 
States, which provides that "no state shall pass any 
law impairing the obligation of contracts." The 
court held that, the college being a private eleemosy- 
nary corporation, the original charter was a contract 
between the royal government on the one hand, and 
the Trustees on the other, which could not be altered 
by the state, without the consent of the Trustees. 
Such consent not having been given, the act was 
invalid. This decision terminated, at once, the brief 
existence of Dartmouth University. It was not 
made till after Governor Plumer had retired from 



460 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

public life. He was slow to believe that this clause 
of the Constitution respecting contracts was intended 
to apply to a case like that of the University. In 
this doubt he was sustained by Judge Marshall, who 
said that, though the framers of the Constitution had 
not probably foreseen its application to this class of 
cases, their words were broad enough to embrace it. 
However that might be, and without setting up his 
opinion, supported as it was by that of the State 
Court, against the judgment of Marshall and Story, 
Governor Plumer regarded it as unfortunate for all 
parties, that the decision should have been such as to 
withdraw the college at once from the control and 
from the patronage of the state. Considering it as 
essentially a public institution, he held that the 
authority of the state ought rightfully to extend over 
it, and that this would be equally for the benefit of 
the college and of the community. 

The opposition which the Governor had encoun- 
tered among his own party in the Legislature was 
transferred to the people, in the canvass for the 
March elections. A paper, called "The People's 
Advocate," established in Portsmouth in opposition 
to Messrs. Livermore and Parrott, in the preceding 
November election, was now turned upon Governor 
Plumer, with a virulence of personal abuse seldom 
equalled in party contests. Some honest, but over- 
zealous Republicans, who could not pardon the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 461 

appointment of a few Federalist judges, joined this 
opposition ; but the clamor came chiefly from men 
whose resentments were inflamed by the sting of per- 
sonal ambition, disappointed of its aim, by the refusal 
of the Governor to give them or their friends the 
offices they claimed. With these it was not so much 
that he had been liberal to his political opponents, as 
that he was insensible to their own individual merits. 
This factious opposition made, however, little imjDres- 
sion on the public mind, beyond the disgust excited 
by the violence of its abuse, and the manifest false- 
hood and injustice of its charges. This feeling of 
condemnation grew so strong, before the close of the 
campaign, that Butler, Bartlett, and other leading 
men, who were supposed to favor the movement, 
came out, one after another, in the public journals, to 
deny all connexion with it. 

When the votes came to be counted, (June 5th, 
1817,) it was found that out of thirty-five thousand 
five hundred and eighty-five cast, the Advocate candi- 
date had received only five hundred and thirty-nine. 
The Federalists were divided between Mason and 
Sheafe ; and Governor Plumer received a majority 
of more than three thousand votes over all the 
other candidates. This signal failure of the Advocate 
party put an end to all further opposition to him 
among the Republicans; and his firmness and im- 
partiality had secured him so much credit among 



462 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

enlightened men of all parties, that he met thence- 
forth no serious personal opposition from any quarter. 
The treasury note stock, about which so much 
clamor was made, had, meantime, risen above par, 
and had been sold to meet the war expenses ; the 
appointment of the judges was no longer a question 
in dispute ; the State House, which, it was predicted, 
would sink out of sight in the quagmire, was rising 
gradually to completion, in the Doric simplicity of 
its granite strength ; and the frogs, which, during the 
November session, had croaked so dismally in its cel- 
lar, were no longer heard under the bright sun of 
the succeeding June. 

Two brief extracts from letters of this period will 
close the present chapter; one respecting the 
Colonization Society, then just founded, the other 
respecting the University. 

In a letter to the Rev. Thomas C. Searle, of Mary- 
land, (Jan. 13th, 1817,) he says: 

" I rejoice that measures are taking in the south to ameli- 
orate the sufferings of the negroes. I have some doubts 
whether free blacks will consent to form a colony in a distant 
land. If they do not, will our laws justify compulsion ? 
Perhaps sufficient numbers may be liberated, on condition of 
their forming such a colony. I should prefer that it should 
be in Africa, rather than on the shores of the Pacific. If on 
the latter, they may hereafter prove troublesome neighbors to 
us, when we shall extend, as we soon shall, our settlements 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 463 

to that ocean. But, in all events, I will afford my feeble aid 
and influence to rid the country of slaves and of black men, — 
a blot upon our character, an obstruction to our prosperity, 
and a severe scourge to the nation." 

To the Rev. Elijah Parish, he writes, (April 21st, 
1817:) 

" It affords me pleasure to hear that the measures I have 
adopted in relation to Dartmouth University meet your 
approbation. On that subject, as on others, I have done 
what I considered my duty, and nothing more. It gives me 
great satisfaction to reflect that I had an agency in restoring 
the worthy Wheelock to the oflice from which he was unjustly 
removed. But it has pleased Heaven to remove hiAi thence. 
He is gone li^/^ ere the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
iveary are at rest. I have no doubt that the University will 
yet become prosperous, if its friends do their duty. In the 
mean time, we must wait, in patience, the issue of the suit 
now depending in the Superior Court." 



CHAPTER XII. 

CLOSE OF POLITICAL LIFE. 

Governor Plumer met the Legislature, and took the 
affirmation of office on the 5th of June, 1817. His 
message contained many useful suggestions, and 
recommended various amendments of the law, but 
none which require special notice here. A resolu- 
tion, which had passed the Legislature, was returned 
by him with his veto, and rejected by the House, 
yeas 4, nays 143. 

On the eve of the adjournment, the Legislature 
sent him a bill, making the fact of joining the Shakers, 
and living with them six months, a cause of divorce. 
As he had not time to return it with his objections, 
and did not sign it, it failed to become a law. It 
grew out of the case of Mary Dyer, who, with her 
husband Joseph, had, some years before, joined the 
Shakers, at Enfield. He remained with them ; but 
Mary came away, and now applied for a law giving 
her the possession of her children. She was a woman 
of great energy and decision of character. She kept 
up an interminable warfare with the society in memo- 
rials to the Legislature, and publications against them. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 465 

Thirty-five years after her first petition, she was still 
an ajoplicant to the General Court on this subject. 
"Mary," said her husband, in the hearing before the 
Legislature in 1818, "is a capable critter. We got 
along very well together while I let her have her 
own way in every thing; but she won't bear contra- 
diction. Her tongue is an unruly member, with a- 
world of iniquity in it, if you cross her." I was, afr 
that time, a member of the House, and had abundant 
proof that Mary's sharp tongue and shrewd wit were 
more than a match for Joseph and his brethren,, 
though some of the latter were shrewd enough too;. 
Her statements about Shaker practices were suffi- 
ciently piquant; and some of her repartees and retorts 
were such as could hardly have been surpassed in 
keenness and efficiency. She carried the House 
strongly with her, and the popular feeling was 
much excited. The committee to whom the sub- 
ject was referred visited, with other mem.bers, the 
Shakers at Canterbury; but we returned without 
making any very alarming disclosures. " Our Legis- 
lature," said the Governor, in a letter to Joseph 
Hawley, of Rochester, New York, " passed no law in. 
relation to the Shakers, though the subject was fully 
and ably discussed. I consider that sect, and some- 
others in our country, as being wild and enthusiastic ;: 
but I fear that legislative interference with them 
would produce more evil than good to society. Per- 



466 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

sedition, or what, by its objects, can, in any Avay, be 
considered such, seldom fails to build up the sect 
against which it is directed ; hence, the proverb ^ The 
Hood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.^ Nothing is 
more fatal to enthusiasm than toleration and neglect." 
Soon after the adjournment of the Legislature, 
President Monroe came to New Hampshire on his 
tour through the Northern States. He was every- 
where received with the most flattering attentions, 
by all parties, and by all classes of the people. " The 
era of good feeling" was happily inaugurated on this 
occasion of the first visit, since the time of Washing- 
ton, of a Southern President to New England. The 
leaders of the Federalist party, aware of the altered 
temper of the times, and feeling that their old role 
of opposition was now out of date, were foremost in 
their demonstrations of respect for the chief magis- 
trate of the Union. In Massachusetts, he was received 
by the Governor with the highest civil honors ; and 
a military escort was assigned him, under a vote of 
the Legislature, in his passage through the state. 
Governor Plumer was applied to, by a committee 
from Portsmouth, to call out the militia for the same 
purpose here ; but he declined it on the ground of 
want of power. He wrote to the President on the 
subject, (July 18th, 1817,) expressing his regret at 
not being able, consistently with his sense of duty, to 
order out an escort of honor, on this occasion. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 467 

" So cautiously is my power restricted, by the prudence, 
or the jealousy of our State Constitution, that I have authority, 
at no time, to order out the militia, except for certain known 
objects, designated by the Constitution and the laws enacted 
under it. Among these, there is none, which, by fair con- 
struction, can be extended to the present case. I have 
thought proper to make this statement, in justice both to 
myself and the state over which I preside. You were 
informed, while at Portsmouth, of my severe indisposition ; 
and I am now obliged to add, that I am still confined to my 
bed, by an attack of the typhus fever, which has not yet, I fear, 
reached its crisis. This unfortunate event has deprived me 
of the satisfaction of a personal interview with you, and pre- 
vented me from receiving a visit at this place, with which I 
had flattered myself you would have honored me. This letter 
will be delivered to you by the Secretary of State. Had my 
health permitted, I should have taken great pleasure in wait- 
ing on you, in person, during the time you remained in the 
state, and in suggesting some subjects of inquiry, which might 
have merited your attention, in this part of our common 
country." 

The President wrote in reply, (July 21st, 1817:) 

" Meeting your son at Portsmouth, I begged him to assure 
you that I should be distressed and mortified, if you suffered 
any uneasiness on my account, since it would delay the resto- 
ration of your health. ]\Iore attention could not have been 
shown to me, than has been, since I entered New Hampshire. 
In yielding to it, I have consulted the wishes of my fellow- 
citizens, rather than my own." 



468 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

From Mr. Plumer's journal; about this time, we 
quote the following extracts : 

July 3cl, 1817. "My son William came from Portsmouth, 
and urged me to issue orders for an escort to the President. 
He saidj Richardson, Mason, and others, were surprised at my 
doubts. They consider the power as incident to the office. 
This does not satisfy me. The opinions and advice of men, 
who are not responsible for the act to be performed, are not to 
guide me, who have examined the subject, and am responsible 
for what is done. I must act on my own sense of right, and 
not on theirs." 

12th. " Yesterday and to-day, I have been confined by a 
typhus fever to my chamber, and, the greater part of the time, 
to my bed." 

14th. '" I am much debilitated ; but my spirits are good. 
My physician told me that I was not sensible how sick I was. 
I assured him that, as the fear of death did not terrify me, I 
could examine calmly the state of my disease ; and, though 
weak, I was satisfied that I was not dangerously ill ; that for 
some days T had expected the attack, and prepared to meet 
it, by doing all the business of a public or private nature, 
which I thought necessary. This had fatigued me, and hast- 
ened, but not caused, the disease." 

24th. " I ^m so weak that a little business fatigues and 
oppresses me. My present state exhibits much of the infirmity 
of age. Though not old, I have survived all my first friends, 
and a great portion of my early associates. Of the lawyers, at 
the bar when I was admitted, only six remain. There is not 
a single judge of any court, or clerk of a court, that was in 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 469 

office when I commenced public life ; nor a member of either 
House, treasurer, or secretary, that was such when I first 
entered the Legislature. Of justices of the peace, not one in 
twelve is now living, who was in commission when I was first 
appointed. Indeed, I have survived most of the officers with 
whom I began public life." 

August 26th, 1817. "The ill state of my health prevents 
my attending the Commencement at Hanover." 

October loth. " Travelled to Concord in my chaise, ac- 
companied by my son George. As I dislike parade, I 
thought a servant unnecessary." 

l-ith. " In the afternoon, met the Council, and stated to 
them the business necessary to be done at the present session." 

15th. " The Council were unanimously in favor of ap- 
pointing my son William, judge ; but I informed them that 
I could not consent to nominate any of my sons to office, and 
that, if appointed, I was confident he would not accept." 

December 21st. "I have recently devoted a considerable 
portion of time to reading some works of Jeremy Bentham, 
which he sent me. In many things my opinions accord with 
his ; for example — he disapproves of oaths. I have never 
taken an oath." 

February 12th, 1818. " I had yesterday a long and close 
conversation with Judge Bell upon several important subjects 
of jurisprudence. It, in a great measure, deprived me of sound 
sleep, for the night. I have experienced, several times, 
within a year or two, similar effects from mental exertion. Is 
this evidence of decay in the mental faculties, or does it pro- 
ceed from other causes ? " 

March 21st. "1 do not recollect ever feeling so sensibly 



470 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

•the influence of the weather on my mmd, as I have to-day. 
Easterly winds were always disagreeable to me ; but I now 
became uneasy, peevish, and fretful ; till ultimately it pro- 
duced pain m my limbs, and languor and sluggishness in my 
mind. How much of our pain and our enjoyment is dependent 
on external causes, many of which are beyond our control ! " 
May 12th. " Met the Council at Concord. I nominated 
Amos A. Brewster as sheriff of Grafton county ; and the 
Council unanimously signed the nomination. Isaac Hill com- 
plained to me of this nomination ; saying that Brewster was a 
Federalist, and that it would injure my popularity. I told 
him, that I neither sought office, nor desired it ; that, in 
following the dictates of my own judgment, in cases where I 
was responsible for the measures adopted, I might meet 
reproach from others ; but I should, at least, avoid the 
reproaches of my own mind. I could not consent to incur 
these for the sake of popular favor. If this is lost, by an 
upright discharge of duty, I am willing to lose it. He said 
it would destroy the Republican party, if it was understood 
that Federalists could be appointed by a Republican Governor ; 
and, in language not very courtly, he urged me to negative 
the nomination, and appoint Edson. My reply, though in a 
moderate tone, was severe and pointed." 

The March elections of 1818 were conducted with 
niiTch less than their usual zeal and acrimony. The 
Advocate party attempted no organized opposition. 
Many Federalists voted for the Republican candi- 
date ; others for Jeremiah Smith, or William Hale. 
Governor Plumer was re-elected by a majority of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 471 

more than six thousand votes over all other candi- 
dates. His message to the Legislatm^e, Jmie 4th, 
1818, contained, as his previous ones had done, various 
recommendations for the amendment of the laws, 
chiefly with a view to lessen the number of suits, to 
expedite the trial of causes, and to diminish the costs 
of litigation. He also recommended an increase of 
the salaries of the judges of the Superior Court, which 
was accordingly made, and the establishment of a law 
term for the trial of law questions. In this message 
occur the following recommendations as to the then 
existing law of imprisonment for debt. 

** There is another subject, connected with the amelioration 
and improvement of the condition of our fellow citizens, 
which merits your consideration. I mean that of the im- 
prisonment of debtors. Their confinement within the walls 
of a prison pays no debt, and, instead of increasing, diminishes 
the means of payment. The loss of the labor, industry and 
talents of useful citizens, thus deprived of their liberty, not 
only depresses their ambition, but often subjects towns to the 
charge of maintaining their families, made destitute by the 
absence of those who usually provided for them. In ancient 
times, and in countries less civilized than our own, the 
power of the creditor over the body of the debtor was 
almost unlimited. Even in New Hampshire, in the early 
stages of our government, the debtor was strictly confined 
within the walls of the prison. The laws, at that time, 
afforded him no relief; he was imprisoned for life, unless he 
paid the debt, or was liberated by the humanity of his creditor. 



472 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

A long period elapsed before a prison yard was established, in 
which the debtor, by giving bond, was permitted to breathe 
the common air without the limits of the prison house ; or 
before indigent debtors were authorized, in any case, to make 
oath that they were unable to pay their debts. Even then, 
an unfeeling creditor had authority to retain his debtor 
during life, by paying a small sum for his weekly support. 
To the honor of the state, this power of the creditor over 
his debtor, has been recently annulled ; and certain portions 
of his property, requisite to support life, exempted from 
attachment. 

" Great as these improvements are, the cause of humanity 
and of natural justice requires further legislative aid. We 
are bound, not only to protect the rights of creditors against 
the frauds of debtors, but to shield the latter against the 
unjust severity of the former. Our laws still authorize the 
creditor, after taking the greatest part of the debtor's prop- 
erty, to depi'ive him of his liberty by confining him in 
prison, without affording him the means of subsistence ; and, 
if poor and friendless, he will be unable to obtain even the 
liberty of the prison yard. I would therefore recommend 
that no debtor should hereafter be committed to prison, either 
upon mesne process or execution, unless the creditor, at the 
time of commitment, shall pay the cost of commitment, and 
give to the gaoler ample security for the comfortable support 
and maintenance of the prisoner so long as he shall be 
detained by him. If creditors will resort to the severity of 
depriving debtors of their personal liberty, it is reasonable 
that they, and not the public or the gaoler, should support 
them. I also recommend that persons committed, either on 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 473 

mesne process or execution, should have the liberty, as soon 
as they are imprisoned, of taking the poor debtor's oath, after 
giving reasonable notice to the creditor of their intention. I 
can see no necessity for a poor man, imprisoned on mesne 
process, to suffer confinement till judgment is rendered and 
execution levied on him. 

" The time appears to be approaching, when imprisonment 
for debt will no longer exist in any case, but creditors will 
consider the industry, fidelity and property of their debtors, 
and not the power of depriving them of liberty, as their only 
real and sufficient security. To make so great a change at 
the present time, might be attended with serious inconven- 
iences. Reform, to be useful and permanent, must be gradual. 
As many persons are imprisoned for small debts, and in such 
cases where payment is enforced by that means, it is usually 
obtained, not from the debtors, but from the humanity of their 
friends and neighbors, I would, therefore, recommend that 
the bodies of debtors should not be liable, for any debt here- 
after contracted, to be arrested on any process issuing from a 
justice of the peace. Let frauds in concealing property sub- 
ject the offender to punishment, but preserve, as far as may 
be, the personal freedom of the citizen ; for every unneces- 
sary restraint on his natural liberty is a degree of tyranny, 
which no wise Legislature will inflict." 

It will be observed that the reasoning here goes 
the full length of the total abolition of imprisonment 
for debt in all cases ; while the recommendation is of 
a much more limited measure. When reminded of 
this apparent inconsistency, he replied to the 



474 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

objector, who was a clergyman, with the text of 
Solomon, "A prudent man concealeth knowledge;" 
and to another he repeated, without condemning, 
what Dugald Stewart calls the fine and deep saying 
of Fontenelle, that ilie zvise man, if he had his hand 
full of truths, would often content himself tvith opening his 
little finger. " They will run out," he said, " through 
even this small aperture, faster than men will gather 
them up." He added : " If you only move in the 
right direction, though slow at first, you will soon 
find that you are going fast enough." The event 
showed that he was not mistaken in this case. I was 
at that time a member of the House ; and the hard- 
est battle we had to fight, during the session, was on 
this bill " for the relief of poor debtors." It was with 
the utmost difficulty that even the moderate measure, 
which he had recommended, was carried ; and yet it 
was a few years only before the total abolition of 
imprisonment for debt was enacted with the entire 
approbation of the people. It has since been abol- 
ished in nearly all the states. 

Another subject brought by the Governor before 
the Legislature was the proposal of Jeremy Bentham 
" to submit to their examination, for the use of the 
state, a complete code of laws, founded upon enlight- 
ened principles of legislation." " The great import- 
ance," he added, " of the object, and the peculiar 
talents of the author, render the subject worthy of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 475 

your mature consideration." This offer of Mr. 
Bentliam was not confined to New Hamsphire, but 
was extended to all the states. The very modest 
request made by him, which was merely that the 
state would receive and examine his proj)osed code, 
and, when so examined, adopt or reject it at its 
pleasure, with the express declaration that he would, 
in no event, accept any compensation for his labors, 
seemed to entitle him, at least, to a respectful hear- 
ing. But the idea that an old man in London, whose 
name not one in ten of the members had ever 
heard, should be employed to prepare a code of laws 
for the state, struck most of them as a thing so 
strange, not to say ridiculous, that the proj)osal was 
dismissed, almost without debate. Along with the 
official letter from the Governor, informing him of 
the fact, I sent him a letter, explaining, with as much 
delicacy as I could, the action of the Legislature, and 
the probable causes of the rejection of his disinter- 
ested and generous offer. I suggested to him, at the 
same time, the propriety of giving to the world 
the results of his labors in jurisprudence, without 
waiting for any such invitation from a Legislative 
Assembly, as he had, in this case, sought to obtain. 
Mr. Bentham, in reply, invited me to come and 
spend with him, " at his hermitage in London," six 
months, or as many more as I had to spare, in digest- 
ing and drawing out such a code. This invitation I 



476 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

resjjectfully declined ; not only because I was, at that 
time, otherwise occupied in the public service, but 
as not feeling myself competent to a task of so much 
delicacy and im]3ortance. 

Before meeting the Legislature in June, Governor 
Plumer had made up his mind not to be a candidate 
for re-election. 

" The cares and the anxieties of the office of Governor," he 
writes, (May 30th, 1818,) "oppress, at times, my mind, and 
injure my health. Placed at the head of the government, it 
is my indispensable duty to attend to all its concerns, and, in 
a great measure, to move and direct its operations. This 
requires a degree and constancy of watchfulness and attention, 
which my feeble health is, at times, not able to sustain. In 
thus declining a re-election, I have consulted no one, except 
my sons, who, for months, have advised me to it." 

Our advice, in this case, was founded upon the 
visible injury which his health suffered from his 
extreme anxiety to do every thing, and more than 
every thing, which the duties of his office seemed in 
the remotest degree, to require of him. He left 
nothing to subordinates, but did every thing himself. 
Sick or well, he would do the business of the day 
within the day ; for to-morrow would bring also its 
duties, which he might then be less able to perform. 
When he went to bed, early or late, his table was 
always clear, the letters all answered, the commissions 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 477 

signed, the orders issued. At the same time his love 
of reading, study and retirement, was unabated; 
and he felt restless and dissatisfied, if he could not 
devote some portion of each day to his books. What 
troubled, however, his frank and manly nature more 
than the mere labors of his place, was the unceasing 
importunity of office-seekers. He was wearied and 
disgusted at the daily visits of men, whom he must 
treat civilly, while he could not but despise them in 
heart for their meanness and servility. Offices for 
themselves or their friends, schemes of jDcrsonal 
advancement, how to raise one man, and keep down 
another, were the frequent topics of long discussions, 
in which he was bound to hear, if not answer, persons 
with whom he had little sympathy, and for whom he 
had less respect. When he was well, such things gave 
him little trouble ; but, in ill health, they wore upon 
his spirits, and disturbed his equanimity. Under these 
circumstances, his family felt that^ while his continu- 
ance in office could confer on him no increase of 
honors, its labors were manifestly impairing his 
health, and wasting hours, which might be more 
pleasantly, if not more profitably, employed. 

June 5th, 1818. "This evening, Samuel Bell spent two 
hours with me in my chamber. I told him that I had come 
to the resolution not to be again a candidate for the office I 
now hold. He said he was sorry to hear it ; that the confi- 
dence of the great body of the people was daily increasing in 



478 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

my adininistration ; and he hoped I should long continue to 
be the chief magistrate. I replied that the state of my 
health could not permit me to hold an office, that required 
my personal attendance at particular times and places, and 
whose duties claimed from me such unremitted attention. I 
told him, I hoped the Republicans would unite on him as 
their candidate ; though I was sorry to lose his services on 
the Bench. After much conversation, he said finally, if the 
Eepublicans should generally agree to support him, he would 
consent. I told him that this declaration relieved me from 
much anxiety. He then said that it was now his turn to 
make a request, which was that I would consent to be Sen- 
ator in Congress. I replied that no office pleased me better 
than that of Governor ; and, in declining that, I declined 
all other offices." 

I may here add, that, at the request of many of his 
friends, I urged him, at this time, to be a candidate 
for the Senate. His reply was: "It is well enough to 
have been once at Washington. There is much to be 
learned there which can be nowhere else acquired ; 
but a second term would give me less pleasure and 
less profit than the same time devoted to my books. 
As a matter of duty, I have already taken my turn ; 
as an honor, I do not covet it. You may go if you 
will, but I would not advise it now. Law first, and 
politics afterwards, is my advice to every young man, 
who would be either lawyer or politician, in this coun- 
try." I need hardly add that this sage advice was 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 479 

lost on me. A seat in Congress is seldom declined 
by a young man, to whom it comes unsolicited as 
unexpected. 

June 13th, 1818. "A committee informed me that, at a 
full meeting of the Republicans, I "U'as unanimously nominated 
as a candidate for re-election as Governor. I answered them 
that the ill state of my health obliged me to decline the honor, 
at which they expressed great regret." 

June 2od. " The Republicans met in caucus. After 
nominating Bell for Governor, they balloted for a candidate 
for Senator. Butler, Livermore, Storer, and I were voted 
for. I had the highest number ; and, at the third ballot, 
received a majority. This makes it necessary for me to settle 
the course that it will be proper for me to pursue. The 
office I do not want ; and, if elected, I cannot accept it. But, 
if I withdraw my name, Parrott will be the most prominent 
Republican candidate, and as the Federalists will unite with 
the Republican minority, he cannot in that event be elected. 
My object is to defeat Butler. I shall, therefore, be silent." 

June 24th. " The House balloted for a Senator. The 
Federalists voted for Jeremiah Smith ; the Republicans were 
divided between Parrott and myself. I had, at the first vote, 
the highest number, but not a majority. At an after ballot, 
Parrott was elected ; the Federalists voting, as I supposed 
they would do, for the minority candidate." 

Though he had, as he says, remained for a time 
silent, it was generally known that he had declined the 
office, or he would undoubtedly have been elected. It 



480 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

is to be regretted that he was not chosen; as it would 
have added to his life six years of interesting public 
service, without injury probably, in the mild climate 
of Washington, to his health. In a letter, after the 
adjournment, to Salma Hale, he says, " I sincerely 
rejoice that I was not elected a Senator to Con- 
gress ; but I do not regret my being considered a 
candidate, as it prevented a man less qualified than 
Parrott from being elected." 

June 26th, 1818. "I was so ill that I was obliged, about 
ten o'clock, to take my bed, and was unable to meet the 
Council." 

27th. " In the morning I was too sick for business. The 
Council met at my lodgings, in an adjoining chamber. I 
alternately met with them, and retired and reposed on my bed. 
iN^ominated Closes C. Pillsbury for the office of Warden of the 
States' Prison, and Roger Yose for Chief Justice of the second 
judicial district. The labors of the day fatigued me ; but I 
w^as able to drink tea with the boarders, and to sleep tolerably 
well in the night." 

28th. " My health is feeble, and the pain in my limbs 
severe. Mr. Vose called upon me. He said he was gratified 
at being nominated as judge. I told him, that, though I had 
a friendship for him, I had not nominated him on that 
account, but because I thought the public interest required 
his services." 

29th. " Pose early ; debility and loss of appetite great ; 
but all my business is done, and, I hope, as correctly as if 
my health had been good." 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 481 

30th. " The Council met me at my lodgings, at five 
o'clock in the morning. "We completed our appointments ; 
and I signed all the commissions. I approved the bill 
exempting the bodies of debtors from arrest on executions 
issued from justices of the peace, though it is in some respects 
very defective. It is a point gained in favor of the liberty of 
the person ; and its defects may be remedied by a future 
Legislature. The lawyers in the House were unitedly opposed 
to it. Second and third rate lawyers, as many of these are, 
make bad legislators. At ten o'clock in the forenoon, at the 
request of the Legislature, I adjourned the two Houses. In 
the afternoon rode to Epsom ; and the next day to my own 
house." 

Among other acknowledgments of his message to 
the Legislature, received by the Governor, was the 
following from Mr. Jefferson, dated June 21st, 1818 : 

"Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Governor 
Plumer, and his thanks for the copy of his message, received 
yesterday. It is replete, as usual, with principles of wisdom. 
Nothing needs correction with all our Legislatures so much as 
the unsound principles of legislation on wliich they act gener- 
ally. The only remedy seems to be in an improved system of 
education. He is happy in every occasion of saluting Gov- 
ernor Plumer with friendship and respect." 

Mr. Madison wrote on the same occasion, August 
10th: 

81 



482 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

"I cannot doubt that the motives to which you have 
yielded, for discontinuing your public labors, are such as 
justify your purpose. In anticipation of the epoch of your 
return to private life, I offer my best wishes for the health 
and repose necessary for its enjoyments, and for the well 
chosen pursuits to which you mean to consecrate it ; to 
which, permit me to add assurances of my high esteem 
and cordial respects." 

The following is from Mr. Plumer's Diary, under 
date of July 21st: 

" Eeturned from Portsmouth, where I spent four days on 
a visit to my daughter. Her disease will, I am convinced, 
prove fatal. Yet she is in good spirits, and exhibits much 
patience and fortitude under sufferings which are severe. I 
visited, and was visited by, a number of the gentlemen of 
Portsmouth. Among these was Jeremiah Mason. He said 
that Bell would be elected Governor ; but, that the Superior 
Court would thereby lose its backbone. He did not think 
Bell would be able to manage the General Court; if he, 
(Mason,) were Governor, he should quarrel with them in a 
week, they were so impracticable. Nothing, he said, had 
more surprised him than the influence I had acquired over 
them, while, at the same time, I preserved my own inde- 
pendence. He said many of the appointments I had made 
reflected honor on the state, as well as on myself; that three 
more men, so well qualified as the present judges, and who 
would accept the office, could not be found in the state ; and 
that the late appointment of Vose was equally judicious. He 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 483 

had not expected that I should abandon public life, when my 
popularity was increasing, and a re-election depended on 
myself alone. I replied that the state of my health required 
the repose of private life ; and that, in peaceable times, like 
the present, the public had no claim on the service of a man 
of sixty." 

These opinions of Mr. Mason, years afterwards 
repeated as his deliberate judgment, at a period 
when he could have no motive to flatter or deceive^, 
were regarded by Governor Plumer as among the 
best proofs which he could receive, that he had not 
labored in vain in the public service ; and that while 
he knew, better than any one else could, that his 
motives were pure, others saw that his measures 
were beneficial, and his course of policy liberal 
and judicious. This was the only reward which he 
desired, — the deliberate approbation of an enlight- 
ened community. He used to say, that he cared 
little about present popularity, except as it enabled 
him to act with more effect for present purposes ; in 
other words, except as it was an instrument of power 
in his hands for the public good. Ultimate approba- 
tion could rest on merit only. In the long run, men 
would judge him fairly ; in the mean time, nothing 
was more uncertain, or more worthless, than the cen- 
sure or applause of the day. First or last, every man 
considerable enough to be remembered after his 
death, would be duly appreciated, and dealt with by 



484 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the world according to his deserts. This conviction 
made him indifferent to the censures of the ignorant 
who mistook him, and of the malicious who purposely 
misrepresented or maligned him. In a letter to Silas 
Betton, who wished to be re-appointed as sheriff of 
Rockingham, he said, ^' In the various offices I have 
held, I have sought more to serve, than to please the 
people ; and I trust that when the sod is green over 
my grave, those who survive me will say that in all 
cases, I preferred the man of merit to the political 
partisan. Such, at least, has been my purpose, from 
which I have never knowingly departed." It was in 
this calm confidence of ultimate justice, that he had 
lived down calumny and abuse, and, in his old age, 
drew around him, in respectful attendance, many 
who, at an earlier period, had been loud in their 
disapprobation of his course. 

September 21st, 1818. "On the 18th, my daughter died — 
I was present — without a groan, or a sigh. From the time 
that I considered her disease incurable, I have not wished her 
life to be protracted ; because it was to her but an increase of 
suffering ; and I am now reconciled to the event." 

This was a child most tenderly loved by both 
parents, and was mourned till the close of their lives. 
She inherited her father's literary taste and talents 
to a great degree. Her peculiar sweetness of temper 
and many endearing traits made her the idol of her 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 485 

family, and rendered her loss irreparable. She was 
the dearest and most affectionate of friends to me ; 
our thoughts, our studies, and our feelings were inter- 
woven with each other. If I felt pleasure in any 
new acquisition, it was because I hoped to share it 
with her. If I read a new book with delight, that 
delight was repeated, and redoubled in reading it 
again to her. I cannot express how much I have 
lost by her death. Many of my most pleasing recol- 
lections are connected with her. The sympathy that 
subsisted between us was so perfect, that her pleasures 
were mine, my joys were hers ; our griefs and our 
regrets were common, our sentiments, our opinions, 
our tastes ; what one felt the other reciprocated. 

Governor Plumer met the Legislature, for the last 
time, at the close of his official year, to assist in 
organizing the two Houses, and to see his successor 
inducted into office. Before finally retiring from his 
post, he sent a message, June 2d, 1819, to the Legis- 
lature, giving a brief account of his official conduct, 
and of the principles on which he had administered 
the government. We quote a few characteristic 
paragraphs from this message : 

*' In making the appointments of the various officers, which 
the constitution and laws vest in the Executive, I have been 
frequently embarrassed and perplexed. The greatest imper- 
fection in all governments arises from not having men of 



486 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

virtue and talents to cany the laws into execution. Laws 
founded in wisdom and justice require men of knowledge and 
integrity for their correct and impartial administration. From 
the nature of human affairs there must be a portion of discre- 
tion vested in executive officers ; and this discretionary power 
will often be abused, by weak men from ignorance, and by 
bad men from design. Hence my object was to appoint those 
men to office who were best qualified. To make such a 
selection was difficult. I was not, in all cases, acquainted 
with the persons best qualified for places of trust ; and there- 
fore, in some instances, was obliged to act upon the information 
of others. That information, in general, consisted not of facts, 
but oi oinnions, and those often formed under the influence of 
interested motives, the partiality of friendship, personal hos- 
tility, slight acquaintance, or the spirit of party ; and of course 
they often proved incorrect. Recommendations and petitions 
in favor of candidates for particular offices have frequently 
been made ; but in many instances it afterwards appeared, 
that those who subscribed the recommendations did not con- 
sider themselves responsible for the character and conduct 
of those whom they recommended. Indeed, instances have 
occurred when those who recommended the successful can- 
didates, have been the first to join the disappointed expectants, 
in censuring the Executive for making such appointments. 
The candidates for office themselves, in too many instances, not 
satisfied with procuring recommendations, have personally 
importuned for office ,• but I have found that office-seelcers 
were not always the best qualified, that they v\^ere usually 
more anxious for the honors and emoluments of office than to 
promote the interest of the public, and that men of modest. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 487 

unassuming merit ouglit to be preferred. To my regret, 
some men whom I considered well qualified, declined office. 
To increase these embarrassments, a difference of opinion, in 
a few instances, existed between myself and a majority of the 
Council, respecting the qualifications of certain individuals for 
office. When this happened, as it was necessary to fill the 
vacancy, if the Council declined to agree with me, I thought 
myself bound to consent to their nomination. In such cases 
I was considered by the people responsible for appointments, 
which I should not otherwise have made. 

" During the time I was in office, an unusual number of 
appointments were to be made, including all the judges of 
the courts of law, those of probate excepted ; the sheriffs of 
four counties ; most of the justices of the peace, and nearly 
all the militia officers of the state. 

*'In aj)pointing judges, it was my sole object to select 
men of talents, of legal information, of strict integrity, and 
such as I deemed best qualified for those important trusts. 
And with a view to exclude, as far as practicable, the sjyirit of 
'party from the temple of justice, and to inspire a general con- 
fidence in the courts of law, in which every citizen has a deep 
interest, I appointed men of different political principles. 

" As offices are created for the benefit of the people, and 
not for the honor and emolument of the officers, and as their 
unnecessary increase has a tendency to impair the responsi- 
bility of the officer, and render the office less respectable, it 
has been my object not to increase the number of justices of 
peace beyond the limits which the public interest required. 

"As some towns appeared to have a greater number of 
justices than was either necessary or useful, soon after I came 



488 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

into office I declined renewing some of their commissions ; but 
reflection and experience convinced me that this course would 
be injurious, as the commissions of some of the justices who 
were best qualified expired first, and if not renewed, the com- 
munity would be deprived of their services. On maturely con- 
sidering the subject, I came to the resolution to renew the com- 
missions of all justices whose term expired, except those who, 
by infirmity of age or mental derangement, were incapable of 
performing the duties of the office, those who encouraged and 
promoted litigation, were intemperate or guilty of gross 
immorality ; sherifi's, and recently their deputies ; persons 
who had removed into a town in which there were before a 
sufficient number ] and those the certificate of whose oaths of 
office had not, during the preceding five years, been returned 
to the Secretary's office. 

" The Constitution seems to imply that, if the judges of the 
Superior Court were justices of the peace, they should be 
throughout the state, and I accordingly appointed them such. 
But during the last three years I declined appointing any 
others of that grade, except the Chief Justices of the Courts of 
Common Pleas, and renewing those whose commissions 
expired ; because I could discover but little duty for them 
to perform, and the number already in office was sufficient 
for that purpose. 

" In the appointment of new justices of the peace, I made it 
a rule not to appoint in any town more than one to three 
hundred inhabitants, except where peculiar circumstances 
rendered it necessary. Though this rule leaves the num- 
ber greater than what is requisite, I considered that reform, 
to be permanent, must be gradual ; I was^ therefore, content 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 489 

with, diminisliing an evil which I could not wholly remove. 
On the first of June, 1816, the number of justices of the 
peace in the state was nine hundred and eighty -four ; it is 
now reduced to eight hundred and three. 

" As the Constitution excludes a person holding the office 
of judge, attorney-general, or sheriff from a seat in the Coun- 
cil, there appeared to nie an impropriety in appointing Coun- 
cillors to either of those offices. Such an appointment would 
deprive the state of a member of the Executive board, or 
subject the people to the expense of new meetings to elect 
another, and the state to the charge of an extra session of the 
Legislature to receive and count the votes. On that account, 
and, as far as I was able, to preserve the independence of the 
Council, I have uniformly declined appointing a Councillor to 
any office which, if accepted, would have excluded him from 
the board. 

"Upon the subject of granting pardons to persons con- 
victed of public offences, I never considered myself at liberty 
to revise, or question the propriety of the opinion of the 
court which rendered the judgment. The courts of law 
are the only tribunals competent to pronounce upon the 
innocence or guilt of the accused ; and their decision ought to 
be conclusive. As our currency consists principally oi paper 
bills, as much of our property depends upon the validity of 
written instruments, and as forgery is a crime which neces- 
sarily includes much turpitude of heart, and is attended with 
serious evils to society, I have uniformly declined pardoning 
any of that class of offenders. I have granted pardons but in 
a few cases ; and those only to convicts who were insane, or 
approached a state of idiocy ; and to those who, being impris- 



490 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

oned for theft, were, before their term had expired, visited 
with sickness, which, for want of free air and better accommo- 
dations, it appeared probable would terminate in death — a 
punishment which the law did not intend to inflict. 

" By the law of the 27th of June last, the concerns of the 
State Prison were committed to the Governor and Council, 
and provision made that they should have a suitable compen- 
sation for those additional services. In relation to myself, I 
reqiiest that you would make no grant to me on that account. 
I am satisfied with the reward I have received ; it is adequate 
to the services I have rendered. I never accepted office for 
tLe sake of its emoluments. The great object of my official 
labors has been to promote the interest and prosperity of the 
state, not those of any religious sect or political party. I 
have, whenever they came in collision, preferred the public 
to my private interest ; and been more anxious to serve than 
to please the people. But how far my efforts have succeeded, 
it is for others to decide. I am satisfied with the honors of 
office, without being disgusted with its duties ; and having 
rendered this account of my administration, I retire to private 
life, to share, in common with my fellow-citizens, the effiscts, 
prosperous or adverse, of my official measures. 

June 2, 1819. "WILLIAM PLUMER." 

The frequent use of the veto power, fourteen times 
in four years, grew out of his deep sense of personal 
responsibility. That a bill had passed both Houses of 
the Legislature by a unanimous vote, was, with him, 
no reason why he, as Governor, should, by signing it, 
make it a law. His duty was, if it did not approve 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 491 

itself to his own judgment as right, to return it with 
his objections. It was for him no sufficient reason 
that others thought it right. He must act on his own 
responsibihty, as they had done on theirs. There 
was, therefore, in these veto messages, no arrogant 
assumption of sujDcriority, on the one hand, as if he 
knew more than they ; and, on the other, no affected 
humiHty, in the exercise of an acknowledged right, 
or rather in the discharge of a duty which required 
no apology for its performance. 

June 4th, 1819. "I attended the Council, and adminis- 
tered the oath to the two remaining Councillors. This is my 
last official act. Samuel Bell is elected my successor by a 
majority of about sixteen hundred votes." 

June 5 til. " I parted with the Governor, and the gentle- 
.men with whom I had been for some time associated, with 
regret. It required an effi^rt to suppress my feelings, and 
preserve the natural tone of my voice." 

His friends had requested leave to form an escort, 
to accompany him to his home ; but he declined this 
honor, as undesirable to him while in office, and 
improper now that he was a private citizen. He 
could not, however, prevent the leading men of both 
political parties from accompanying him a short dis- 
tance out of the town. On riding out of sight of 
these kind friends, from whom he did not part with- 
out strong emotions, he congratulated himself on his 



492 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

final escape from the cares and anxieties of public 
life, and adverted with just satisfaction to the general 
good will and respect with which he was now 
regarded, even by those who had, at first, treated 
him with rudeness and contumely. He claimed no 
other merit than that of good intentions ; and desired, 
he said, no other reward ihan the consciousness, 
which he then felt, of having done, in all cases, what, 
at the time, he regarded as his duty. In this quiet 
ride, on that beautiful June morning, along the 
plain, and through the dark pines which border the 
Merrimack, he dwelt, with glowing enthusiasm, on 
the peaceful retreat, where, in the society of his 
friends, in the study of his books, and the use of his 
pen, he hoped to pass the evening of his life, undis- 
turbed by the storms which had darkened its morning 
and mid-day course. As I sat silent at his side, in 
deep sympathy with his feelings, I had never seen 
him more buoyant in thought, or happier in his antic- 
ijoations of the future. We reached home to a late 
dinner, and amidst the smiles and caresses of his wife 
and children, the veteran soldier felt that, after more 
than thirty years' service, he had received an honor- 
able discharge, and might now hang up his arms, and 
repose in peace, no longer to be roused by the daily 
reveille, nor summoned needlessly to the onset at the 
call of party leaders. Life to him was indeed thence- 
forth to be a march, with ported arms, along the 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 493 

region which leads silently downwards througb. the 
valley of the shadow of death, — awful to many, but 
which had in it no terrors for him. 

"I might/' lie ■writes, (June Tth,) "if I had wished it, 
have continued longer in office ; but its cares and anxieties 
would have worn down and enfeebled my mental powers, and, 
without my perceiving their decay, my measures would have 
become more timid, less vigorous, less useful ; and my repu- 
tation, as a public man, would have declined. I have, there- 
fore, seasonably exchanged the duties of a sentinel for those 
of a private citizen." 

From the retreat, so early selected and so long 
cherished, he was only once, and that for a single 
day, afterwards withdrawn. In 1820, he was chosen 
one of the Electors of President and Vice President 
of the United States. His name had been placed at 
the head of the list, without his being consulted as 
to whether he would serve, or how he would vote. 
It was on the occasion of Mr. Monroe's second elec- 
tion. Governor Plumer did not regard himself in 
this, more than in other acts of his life, as the tool of 
a party, or the mere exponent of other men's 
opinions. By the provisions of the Constitution, the 
people choose the Electors; and it is the duty of those 
Electors to choose the President. In the exercise of 
this duty, he voted for John Quincy Adams, instead 
of James Monroe, who received every other electoral 



494 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

vote in the Union. This single vote against Monroe 
(for it was regarded chiefly in that light) excited 
much wonder, and some censure, at the time. It, 
however, created no surprise in those who knew him, 
as it was the natural result of his general rule of 
independent action, combined with his avowed 
opinions respecting some of the leading measures of 
Mr. Monroe's administration. His first legislative 
act, thirty-five years before, had been the signing of 
a protest, which no one else signed, against an act, 
which the court soon after pronounced unconstitu- 
tional ; and now, at the close of his public life, his 
last official act was the voting, as an Elector, for a 
man, for whom no one else then voted, but who was 
at the next election chosen President. He thought 
Mr. Monroe's capacity by no means equal to the 
place. " We mistake," he said, " if we suppose that 
any but the ablest men are fit for the highest place. 
The government of weak men must always be disas- 
trous. ' Wo to thee, land, tvhen thy king is a child' " He 
was influenced in part, perhaps, by a desire to draw 
attention to his friend Adams, whom he thus first 
nominated for the Presidency ; but more by his dis- 
aj)probation of what he regarded as the wasteful 
extravagance of the public exjDenditure, during Mon- 
roe's first term of service ; which, instead of paying 
the public debt, had compelled a resort to loans in a 
time of peace. " I see," he said, in a letter of an 



LIFE OF AVILLIAM PLUMER. 495 

earlier date, to Salma Hale, " the same spirit of pro- 
fusion and waste in granting the public money here, 
as in England. The expense of our army and navy, 
in proportion to numbers, exceeds that of any nation 
on the earth. The expense of our Legislature has no 
parallel in any other country ; and our pension sys- 
tem seems intended as a bounty to encourage idleness 
and want of economy." 

This dissatisfaction with the course of public events 
was by no means confined to Governor Plumer. I 
was in Congress at the time, and saw much of it in 
that body. I received many congratulations on this 
vote of my father, from such men as Randolph, 
Macon, and other Republicans of the old school. Not 
that they liked Adams, (Randolph assailed him with 
the fury of hereditary hate) ; but they disliked Men- 
roe, whom they regarded as having adopted, chiefly 
under the influence of Calhoun, some of the worst 
heresies of the old Federal party. Randolph said in 
the House, with his usual felicity of sarcastic expres- 
sion : " They talk of the unanimity of his re-election. 
Yes, sir ; but it is the unanimity of indifference, and 
not of approbation. Four years hence, he will go 
out, with equal unanimity ; and the feeling will then 
be, not indifference, but contempt." This bitter proph- 
ecy was, in some measure, verified, by the almost 
total oblivion into which Mr. Monroe fell, amidst the 
din of the contest which preceded and followed the 



496 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

election of his successor. Forgotten even before he 
left the White House, he was remembered afterwards, 
for a moment only,/as an humble suppliant for the 
bounty of Congress, on one of whose most important 
acts he had, just before, put his veto. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

OLD AGE. 

The remaining thirty years of Mr. Plumer's life fur- 
nish few incidents for biography. They were passed 
in study rather than in action. After a few weeks of 
relaxation, he began to cast about him for some new 
employment. He thought at first of resuming his 
historical labors ; but the reasons which had formerly 
seemed conclusive against the further prosecution of 
that design, were now strengthened by the considera- 
tion of his feeble health and his advanced age. He 
was unwilling, however, to leave wholly unused the 
materials collected, and the stores of knowledge 
which he had accumulated. Abandoning, therefore, 
the idea of writing a History of the United States, he 
determined to devote his leisure to the composition 
of a work which he entitled " Sketches of American 
Biography." 

While prosecuting these inquiries, and as a relaxa- 
tion from them, he wrote and published in the news- 
papers, a series of Essays, under the signature of 
Cincinnatus, Avhich had a wide circulation, and 
attracted much attention. They amounted in all to 

32 



498 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

one hundred and eighty-six numbers, furnishing 
matter sufficient for two or three vokimes, and 
extending, in point of time, from May 10th, 1820, to 
August 6th, 1829. Among the subjects treated of in 
these Essays, were the Freedom of the Press, Hard 
Times, Speculation, Intemperance, Industry and Idle- 
ness, Virtue and Happiness, Gaming, Lotteries, 
Extravagance in Dress, Furniture and Living, Insanity, 
Education, Agriculture, Roads, Government, Com- 
merce, Manufactures, Banks, Paupers, Slavery, Taxa- 
tion, Public Debts, Wars, the Army, the Navy, the Mili- 
tia, Pensions, Schools and Colleges, the Professions of 
Law, Medicine, and Divinity. In answer to the 
inquiries wdiicli a reader naturally makes as to an 
anonymous writer, he says, in his first number : 
" My name can neither add to, nor detract from, the 
authority of my writings. My politics are Republi- 
can, and my religion liberal. My motive is the 
public good." He was not, however, studious of con- 
cealment. His style, indeed, and his tone of thought 
and feeling, were so peculiarly his own, that he seldom 
published any thing, which was not at once recog- 
nized by those who took an interest in his produc- 
tions. He gave, on this occasion, as the reason for 
his mode of publication, that a hundred read a news- 
paper for one who examines either large pamphlets, 
or ponderous volumes ; and that, his object being to 
reach the mass of the people, and not the learned 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 499 

few, he had sought his audience where alone he was 
sure to find it. His main purpose was indeed to 
impart useful information and practical wisdom, — to 
recommend prudence, economy, integrity, and the 
social virtues, to the great mass of the people, in all 
conditions and occupations of life. Like Franklin, in 
writings having the same object, he often descends, 
in these essays, to minute details and homely objects, 
certain that he could not be ill employed in the 
pursuit of useful knowledge, or too precise in its 
communication. Some of the essays, especially those 
on education, agriculture, and government, are full 
and elaborate, and may almost aspire to the dignity of 
finished treatises on these subjects. Others, less 
extended, contain, in many cases, comprehensive sur- 
veys of their subjects, and abound in acute remarks, 
in plain statements of important facts, and in well 
considered opinions, clearly and strongly expressed. 
The essays on agriculture embrace nearly the whole 
circle of our New England methods, and are equal, 
if not superior, to any thing since written on the 
subject, except so far as the application of chemistry 
to agriculture, then hardly made among us, has 
enabled later writers to give a reason, in some cases, 
for practices whose utility he could support only by 
an appeal to experience. The essays on government 
contain an account of our American forms of govern- 
ment, state and national, and, to a considerable extent, 



500 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

a history of their administration, with remarks on the 
errors and abuses to which they are exposed, and 
suggestions for their correction and improvement. 
The essays on education are practical in their charac- 
ter, and sagacious in their views and suggestions. 

The plan of his biographical work, to which he 
now devoted himself, was to give, not in the form of 
a dictionary, but chronologically arranged according 
to the date of each man's death, a sketch of dis- 
tinguished Americans, in every department of life and 
action, from the first settlement of the country to his 
own time. It was not his object to supersede (if 
that could have been done) the separate lives of 
eminent men which we already possess, but to give, 
in a clear and succinct narrative, the facts and dates 
relating to all persons considerable enough to fill a 
place, however humble, in the history of the country. 
A reader, for example, finds, in some work he is 
examining, mention made, perhaps incidentally, of 
an individual respecting whom he wishes to know 
more than is there told. lie turns to the SJceiches ; 
and he finds, in a few pages, unincumbered with use- 
less details, the facts and dates of his life, all, in 
short, that is known respecting him, chronologically 
arranged, with a brief sketch of character, drawn up, 
as he said, "without eulogy on the one hand, or 
detraction on the other." In such a work, some 
men's lives would furnish matter for forty or fifty 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 501 

pages ; others, for a few lines only. No date, which 
could be settled, was to be left unascertained, and no 
fact bearing on the history of the United States, unre- 
corded. The work was to embrace the whole country 
Avithin the limits of the Union, and the entire period 
from its first discovery to the time of publication. To 
every reader of biography, or student in history, such 
a work, if adequately executed, would be an invalu- 
able assistant, — a methodical abstract and compen- 
dium of American history and biography. 

As early as 1808, he had sketched, for his own 
amusement, the characters of some public men with 
whom he was personally acquainted ; but it Avas not 
till 1819, that he began to devote his leisure from 
other occupations to preparing for the work here 
described. He began by collecting materials from 
all quarters, writing letters to the friends of deceased 
public men, and examining and making references to 
all the books, pamphlets, public documents, news- 
papers, and other sources of information within his 
reach. His own collection of such materials was 
probably the largest in the country. The earliest 
of these sketches, which I find among his papers, 
bears date November 28th, 1827; the latest, April 
24th, 1843. Their whole number is one thousand 
nine hundred and fifty-two. They would form, if 
published, seven or eight closely printed octavo 



502 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

volumes. He had selected the names of many 
hundred individuals more, respecting whom he had 
made references and gathered materials, but had 
made no further progress in their biographies. These 
references, and this mass of materials, embrace the 
whole circuit of American history and biography ; 
and it would have required many years of industrious 
application to fill up even their modest outlines. It 
was, indeed, the labor of a life, and should have been 
commenced only in the first vigor of manhood. With 
his industry and perseverance, it would, if so begun, 
have ended in the production of a work of compre- 
hensive information and enduring value. As it is, it 
wants the hand of some competent compiler to put it 
into shape, and to complete the original design. To 
the author it was, for years, an object of pleasing 
contemplation, and of unexhausted and inexhaustible 
occupation. With this work before him, time never 
hung heavy on his hands. The calls of comjDany, 
the society of his friends, the circle of his domestic 
avocations, found him ever ready for the duty or 
the business of the day, whatever that might be; 
but equally ready to turn from these to his books 
and his pen, for the piling up, month after month, 
and year after year, of these memorials of the past, 
and mementos for the future. Happy in his em- 
ployment, he viewed the swelling heap with more 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 503 

than the miser's pleasure in his hoarded gold, and 
looked forward to its completion as the crowning 
achievement of his life. 

His own approach to old age having drawn his 
attention to the subject, he published, (July 18th, 
1823,) a short essay on Longevity, in which he gives 
many interesting statements respecting the causes of 
long life, the effects of climate, occupation, and profes- 
sion, labor and exercise, temperance in meats and 
drinks, the habit of early or late rising, temper, 
country or city residence, and other conditions con- 
nected with health and longevity. He continued 
his inquiries on this subject, and had collected, before 
his death, the names and some account of about six 
hundred persons, who had reached the age of ninety 
years and upwards. A portion of them were pub- 
lished by Dr. J. E. Worcester, in the " Memoirs of the 
American Academy." 

Mr. Plumer also wrote, February, 1824, and pub- 
lished, in the New Hampshire Historical Society's 
Collections, "Remarks on the Authenticity of the 
Wheelwright Deed," which had become a subject of 
dispute among New England antiquaries. On this 
subject, he wrote, (March 19th, 1824,) to John 
Farmer : 

'' I still think there is more evidence of its authenticity 
than that it was forged. Objections may be stated to ancient 
documents, which it is impossible, after the lapse of two cen- 



504 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

turieSj to obviate, and yet the papers may be genuine. The 
Declaration of Independence purports to have been signed at 
Philadelphia on the 4th of July, 1776, by those who were 
then delegates in Congress. Yet it bears the names of seve- 
ral persons, who, as appears by the Journals, were not, till 
many months after, members of Congress ; and a recurrence 
to the records of the states to which these persons belonged 
will show that they were, at that time, in office at home, and 
not present in Philadelphia. Suppose, two centuries hence, 
it should be said that the names so affixed were forged, it 
might, at that distant time, be difficult to disprove the allega- 
tion. The Journals of Congress do not contain the informa- 
tion necessary to explain the facts ; but many who are now 
living know that, for some time after the 4th of July, new 
members of Congress were required, on taking their seats, to 
sign the Declaration, though it had been issued previous to 
their appointment. This is a fact which I do not recollect to 
have seen stated in any history of that period. Ancient deeds 
so far prove themselves, that they throw the burden of proof 
on those who deny them. There ai'e objections to this Indian 
deed, which cannot, perhaps, be fully explained ; but I think 
the evidence, on the whole, preponderates in favor of its 
authenticity." 

These remarks led afterwards to an elaborate 
examination of the (Question by Savage, in his first 
edition of Wintlirop's Journal. On reading this article, 
Mr. Plumer said, in liis Journal, (Aug. 16th, 1825:) 

" His observations upon my remarks on the Indian deed to 
Wheelwright are written with more asperity than the occasion 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 505 

required. Some of his arguments are more specious than 
substantial, and may be easily refuted. At this distance from 
the date, it is difficult to settle conclusively the question 
whether the deed is genuine or not. Much may be said on 
both sides ; but I have neither time nor inclination further to 
investigate the subject." 

Some of Mr. Savage's arguments are certainly very 
strong, and seem not easy to be refuted; yet it is 
said that certain documents, recently discovered, go 
to establish the authenticity of that much disputed 
deed. I have not seen them. 

To John Q. Adams, Mr. Plumer writes. (February 
13th, 1829 :) 

" I have long been convinced that the great secret of 
human happiness is not to suffer our energies to stagnate. 
Oar pleasure consists in action more than in rest. I never 
enjoyed life better than I now do, in a state of retirement 
from the world. I feel a deep interest in my literary under- 
takings ; and if they should not prove useful to others, they 
will have served at least to smooth for me the passage down 
the vale of declining years. It would, indeed, be a gratifica- 
tion, if I could live to complete and publish the work ; but 
this is not probable." 

It would be easy to multiply from his paj)ers 
evidences of the unwearied perseverance with which, 
under the weight of increasing years, Mr. Plumer 



506 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

continued to pursue his literary labors. The last Life 
which he attempted, and which, if completed, would 
have been one of the most elaborate of the series, was 
that of Thomas Jefferson. His own personal recol- 
lections furnished him with many interesting facts 
and traits of character ; and he had gone carefully 
over the wade range of his books, pamphlets, news- 
papers and public documents, to collect materials for 
the intended memoir. But the labor of preparation 
seems to have well-nigh exhausted whatever of 
strength remained to him for the task. After writing 
eight or ten pages of the biography, he dropped the 
pen, (April 24th, 1843,) never to be again resumed 
in the same service. He continued, indeed, as if by 
the force of a habit too firmly fixed to be easily dis- 
continued, to take minutes of his reading, and to 
make references, as late as November 28th, 1848, and 
perhaps later ; but he attempted no more Sketches 
of American Biography. 

In looking back on the long years of labor which 
he. devoted to this work, we cannot but regret that, by 
beginning so late in life, and by spreading himself over 
so wide a surface, he failed to complete what, within 
narrower limits and with longer time, would have 
been a very useful work. The articles, too, are most 
of them first sketches, rather than finished papers 
The toil of revision, addition, and correction, remains 
to be performed. In their present state, they are a 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 507 

vast accumulation of interesting facts in American 
history and biography ; but they lack the harmony 
and artistical perfectness which longer time and 
greater elaboration could alone give them, and which 
the author's age, when he commenced the undertak- 
ing, left little reason to hope that he could live to 
supply. Whether, under such circumstances, any 
portion of these writings is in a condition to see the 
light, is a question reserved for farther consideration 
after the present memoir is completed. In the 
author's will, written nearly thirteen years before his 
death, he provided, on the supposition that the work 
would be finished by him in his lifetime, for its pub- 
lication after his death ; but, at a later ^^ei'iod, he 
expressed doubts w^hether it should, in its then 
imperfect state, be given to the press. That the 
work was never completed, though a loss to the pub- 
lic, was no injury, perhaps, to its author, — none, at 
least, to his personal comfort and enjoyment. 
" Happy," it has been well said, " is the man who has 
a '^magnum opus'' on hand! Be it an 'Excursion' 
by Wordsworth, or Southey's ' Portugal,' or a Nean- 
drine 'Church History' — to the fond projector there 
is no end of congenial occupation ; and, provided he 
never completes it, there will be no breach in the 
blissful illusion." This is surely a juster and more 
consoling view of the concluding labors of an author's 
life, than that taken by He Quincey respecting a 



508 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

projected work of his, which he regards as " a memo- 
rial to his children of hopes defeated, of baffled 
efforts, of materials uselessly accumulated, of founda- 
tions laid that were never to support a superstructure, 
of the grief and ruin of the architect." In the present 
case, there was to the architect no grief and no ruin ; 
but, on the contrary, a steady succession of pleasing 
occupations, of daily enjoyment, and cheerful antici- 
pations of usefulness to others, when he should him- 
self cease to act or to enjoy. Occupation in the 
present, and hope for the future, are among the 
essential elements of human happiness. With both 
of these, his declining years were abundantly fur- 
nished in the quiet seclusion of the domestic circle, 
by the gentle companionship of his books, and the 
assiduous but unexhausting labors of the pen. 

It may be here mentioned that his literary pur- 
suits brought him into connexion with many learned 
societies; and that among others to which he 
belonged were the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
the Statistical Association, the Academy of Lan- 
guages and Belles Lettres, the American Antiquarian 
Society, and the Danish Royal Society of Northern 
Antiquities. His last two journeys to Concord were 
to assist at the organization, in 1823, of the New 
Hampshire Historical Society, in which he took much 
interest, and of which he was the first President. 
They requested him to deliver the first annual 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 509 

address before the society, which he dechned, on the 
ground of feeble health. He gave to the society 
some two or three hundred volumes, principally the 
earlier and more valuable of his state papers. 

A few further extracts, containing the expression 
of opinions, or notices of facts, will lead us, by a dif- 
ferent route, over the same period to the close of his 
Journals and his correspondence. January 29th, 
1820, he writes to Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States : 

" On tlie subject of the Missouri restriction, I indulge the 
fond hope that the friends of liberty will prevail, and that 
slavery will be kept within its present limits. On this sub- 
ject I have read and reflected much ; and have never doubted 
the right, or the policy of admitting new states, subject to the 
condition that they shall not enslave their fellow men. Nor 
have I any doubt that the power to hold slaves will eventually 
prove a cui-se, and not a blessing, to the state to which it may 
be granted. It is an immutable principle of the laws of 
nature that those who violate those laws do, by that very vio- 
lation, lay a foundation for their own punishment, which, 
sooner or later, must and will be inflicted. The strength of 
any state must be impaired, and its danger from insurrections 
increased, in proportion as slaves increase within its limits. 
Slavery is not only a reproach to our character as a nation, 
but its extension to new states adds deeply to that reproach 
and disgrace. It increases, too, the existing inequality, in 
the apportionment of representatives and electors, in violation 
of the principles of right and justice ; and will, I fear, give 



510 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

rise, in its consequences, to a new state of parties, marked by 
geographical lines, described as slavebolding and non-slave- 
holding states, — a condition of parties more dangerous to our 
system of government, than any that has yet existed 
among us." 

On this subject of slavery, he entered warmly into 
the feeling, then universal in the free states, against 
its further extension ; and predicted the overthrow of 
the Union from the moment that the slave states 
should acquire an acknowledged and uncontrollable 
preponderance in the government of the Union. He 
wrote me, (February 20th, 1820 :) 

" The Missouri question has lost, in my mind, none of its 
interest or importance. I could not consent to any compro- 
mise, which the slave-holders may offer. I consider the 
extension of slavery as a crime in those who permit it, — an 
evil fatal to the interests of the free states. If it prevails, it 
will, I fear, eventually produce the calamity, which I have so 
long deprecated, — a dismemberment of the states. If, to obtain 
this extension, its advocates in the Senate can be guilty of 
such an outrage upon all parliamsntary proceedings, as to 
couple in one bill Missouri with Maine, what may we not 
expect from them, when, by their slave representation, they 
shall have gained the ascendency in the halls of Congress ? 
In wealth and in physical force, the free states will maintain a 
decided superiority ; but, in legislation^ the slave states will 
rule. The great interests of the free states are agriculture, 
commerce, and manufactures ; but, in the slave states, agricul- 






LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 511 

ture constitutes their principal employment, — not an agricul- 
ture like ours, but the planting interests of cotton, tobacco, 
rice, and sugar. It will be, therefore, natural for those states, 
when all power is vested in their hands, to neglect to provide 
for the protection and encouragement of commerce and manu- 
factures. A series of measures may be expected to follow, 
fatal to the integrity of the Union." 

To Jonathan 0. Moselej, he writes, (March 3d, 

1820:) 

" On the question of admitting new states formed from 
without the limits of the old thirteen, I have never had a 
doubt either of the constitutionality or the expediency of 
requiring such states to stipulate that they will not hold slaves, 
as a condition requisite for their admission. I hope you will 
agree to no compromise on this subject with the slave-holding 
states. If your House will act with firmness, you will yet 
save the nation, preserve the rights of the free states, and 
eventually the new states of the west, though against their 
will, from a curse more grievous to them than war and pesti- 
lence united. The longer I have considered the subject, the 
more important it becomes in my view." 

The following passages are extracted from his 
Diary : 

June 18, 1821. "Of foreigners, we have already in our 
country more than enough. They, in general, consist of the 
poor, the discontented, the restless and unquiet, who diminish 
rather than increase our strength and our wealth. Their habits 



512 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

and their opinions are unfavorable to our government and 
our institutions. A slower but sounder growth is more 
to be desired." 

Dec. 14tli, 1821. " I have read tlie President's Message. As 
a writer, lie is vastly below some of his predecessors ; and, in 
point of talents, at a still greater distance from them. There 
is no one act of my official life on which I reflect with more sat- 
isfaction than that of withholding from him my vote as an 
Elector." 

Dec. 15th, 1823. " The President's Message is the best 
communication he has ever made to Congress. The senti- 
ments are manly and independent. As an individual^ I am 
proud of such language from the Chief Magistrate of the 
nation to its Legislature. Though the Holy Alliance — the 
despots of Europe — may consider it made in defiance of their 
claims and conduct, and be irritated by it, we have nothing 
to fear from them. They have enough to do, in their own 
kingdoms, to keep their own people in slavery ; and however 
they may wish the destruction of our free government, they 
understand too well their own position, and ours, to make 
war on this country." 

This was the remarkable message, in which the 
doctrine was first advanced that no Em^opean power 
should, in future, be allowed to establish a colony in 
America. It is now understood that the tone of this 
message, so bold and energetic, if not its very lan- 
guage, was that of John Quincy Adams, then Secre- 
tary of State, rather than of President Monroe. 

Mr. Plumer entered warmly into the support ot 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 513 

his friend Adams, who had been elected President in 
1824, and was met, from the beginning, by a most 
violent and envenomed opposition. Among his 
opponents in this State was Levi Woodbury, who, 
elected as an Adams man, very soon took his stand in 
the Jackson ranks, and became, ultimately, a promi- 
nent leader in the party. Of the kind of opposition 
which Adams had to encounter, a sample appears in 
the following extract from one of Woodbury's letters 
to Mr. Plumer, (April 23d, 1826 :) 

" It has been a subject of mortification to Mr. Adams's 
friends, and must have astonished you, I think, that * a 
Ulliarcl taUe, |50.00/ ' billiard balls, |6.00,' ' chess men, 
$33.00,' etc., etc., should compose a part of the articles pur- 
chased by him, with the public fund, and should go down to 
our posterity as a part of the furniture for the F resident's use, 
in this virtuous stage of our country's growth and history." 

The virtuous indignation of the worthy Senator at 
this misapplication of the public funds, seems not to 
have been felt so strongly by his correspondent, who 
wrote in reply, (May 8th, 1826:) 

" As to the President's purchasing a billiard table, balls, 
and chess men, out of the money granted him to furnish his 
house, I consider it a trivial object, and of little importance 
to the public. If nothing more substantial is alleged against 
the President, his opponents ought to feel more ^mortifica- 
cation ' than his friends. A predisposition to find fault too 

33- 



514 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

often induces men to strain at a gnat and swalloio a camel. 
There is useless expenditure enough of the public money.; 
but, in this case, if the House or Senate charge the President 
with waste or extravagance, he may well reply to the accuser. 
Physician, heal thyself. I am glad your session is to close in 
a few days ; for I think the nation and its treasury will be 
safer in the recess. The present session has been distinguished 
for debating much and doing little ; the mountain has been in 
labor, and produced a mouse." 

The following is from a letter of John Quincy 
Adams, dated April 24tli, 1827: ■ 

" Your approbation of the leading measures of the present 
administration, if not more than a counterbalance to all the 
obloq[uy with which it is visited, is among the most cheering 
incidents which sustain me in the discharge of my duties. 
That I endeavor to dischai'ge them according to the best of 
my ability, is the sum of all the defence I can make against 
those who think they have an interest in passing censure upon 
me. I confidently rely upon the good sense of the peoj)le to 
correct the mischief which results from the present state of 
things, though I cannot flatter myself that it will be remedied 
witliin the term of my public service." 

June ITtli, 1827, to Levi Woodbury, who had 
expressed the hope " that there was no such radical 
difference between them in politics as to alienate old 
friends," Mr. Plumer wrote : 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 515 

" Though we differ in opinion on some principles and 
measures, which I consider of vital importance to the interests 
of our common country, that difference will never, I trust, 
alienate me from you, I have, through a long life, enjoyed 
the satisfaction of preserving my friendship and attachment to 
men whose religious and political opinions have been opposed 
to mine ; and as long as I think a man preserves his integrity, 
his opinions will not impair my confidence, or diminish my 
friendship for him," 

From the Diary for July 4th, 1828, we quote the 
following entry : 

" I presided at a public dinner, in Epping, where more 
than a hundred gentlemen from this and the adjacent towns 
celebrated the anniversary of our independence. I bore the 
fatigues of the day, and performed my duty with more ease 
than I expected. We parted before the day closed in good 
humor and fine spirits." 

To Samuel Bell Mr, Plumer wrote, (December 
9th, 1828 :) 

" I consider the late election of President [that of Jackson] 
one of the most unfortunate events that ever happened in this 
country. A man who, I think, has not a single qualification for 
the ojffice has triumphed over one pre-eminently well qualified, 
and that by a great majority, A mania has seized the public 
mind ; the people have been deceived and infatuated. Is not 
this strong evidence that our government is in danger of ter- 



516 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

minating, like others that have preceded us, in monarchy, or 
despotism ? Still we ought not to despair of the republic. 
' It can never be too late to own a conqueror, and sue for 
chains.' " 

Mr. Plumer, having been nominated as an Elector 
of President and Vice-President, on the anti-masonic 
ticket, declined, October 26th, 1832, in favor of the 
National Republican candidates, stating, at the same 
time, that he was an anti-mason, and had always 
been one, on the ground of opposition to all secret 
societies, whatever might be their objects. 

In reply to an invitation to attend the celebration 
of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement 
of Newbury, he wrote, (May 16th, 1835 :) 

" Newburyport is the place of my nativity. With the poet, 
I can truly say, ' Scenes of my youth ! once you were dear 
to me ! ' Not once only ; but still do the recollections of 
Newburyport afford me real pleasure. In youth, we form 
attachments to the places where we were born, and where we 
have spent our juvenile years. In manhood, the reflecting 
mind extends those attachments to other places, and finally 
to the whole country. These attachments, thus extended, 
constitute that noble passion — love of country. If I live 
to the 25th of next month, I shall then be seventy-six years 
of age. It has never been my lot to enjoy, at any time, a 
high state of health. During the last three years, it has 
been so much impaired, that I have hardly ridden five 



I 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 517 

miles in a clay. Thougli it would afford me much, pleasure 
to attend your celebration, the want of health obliges me to 
decline the honor." 

He had now a new source of interest, pleasure and 
amusement, in the society of his grand-children, of 
whom he was very fond, and who visited him daily, 
while they were at home, and corresponded with him 
when they were absent at school. Their letters, how- 
ever imperfect, afforded him great pleasure ; and he 
never failed to answer them, giving them the same 
kind admonitions and wise counsels which he had, 
years before, lavished on their fathers. 

The last letter which he wrote, or rather signed, (for 
I was his amanuensis on this occasion,) was in answer 
to an invitation to attend the meeting of the Sons of 
New Hampshire, in Boston, in November, 1849 : 

"Epping, November 3d, 18-i9. 

" Gentlemen, — I have received your invitation to attend 
the festival of the Sons of New Hampshire, to be holden at 
Boston, on the seventh instant. It would give me great pleas- 
ure, if the state of my health would permit, to be with you 
on that occasion. But the infirmities of age press heavily upon 
me ; the penalty, which few escape,' who much outlive the 
threescore years and ten, fixed by the Psalmist as the ordinary 
period of human life. Even the fourscore years, which he 
pronounced to be labor and sorrow to the few by whom they 
are attained, I have not only reached, but have left them, long 



518 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

since, behind me in my progress of life. Age, then, and its 
consequent debility, must be my excuse for not attending the 
meeting, to which you invite me. I do not the less sympa- 
thize with you in the objects of that meeting. Born in Mas- 
sachusetts, I feel for the old Bay State the veneration of a 
true son for a worthy parent ; and it is among your best 
claims on my regard, that you, gentlemen, and those for whom 
on this occasion you act, have, in various ways, and in many 
walks of life, done such high honor, and rendered such true 
service, to the State of your adoption, and of "my nativity. But 
though born in Massachusetts, I have been for more than 
eighty years an inhabitant of New Hampshire ; and you may 
well believe that I cherish for her the respect to which her 
many virtues entitle her, and feel, far more strongly than I 
can express, the deep gratitude which her favors, shown to 
me in years now long departed, have written on my heart. 
For her hardy, virtuous, and intelligent sons, whether remain- 
ing in their native homes, or seeking fame and fortune in 
other regions, I can indulge no better wish, than that they 
may prove their true descent from a noble stem, by conduct 
worthy of their birth and nurture in the Granite State. 
" I remain, gentlemen, with great respect, 

^' Your obedient servant, 
'^ WILLIAM PLUMER." 
" To the Committee of Invitation." 

In introducing this letter, the President of the 
meeting, Mr. Webster, said : 

" Governor Plumer is a man of learning and of talent. He 
has performed important service in the Congress of the United 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 519 

States. He has been many years Governor of the State of 
New Hampshire. He has lived a life of study and attain- 
ment, and, I suppose, is, among the men now living, one of 
the best informed in the matters pertaining to the history of 
his country. He is now more than ninety years of age. He 
expresses the pleasure he_ should feel to be here, if his 
advanced life would permit. 'Gentlemen, I projiose the 
health of Governor Plumer of New Hampshire, the oldest 
living member of the Congress of the United States." 

This speech of Mr. Webster was received with 
great applause, and the toast drunk with hearty 
and long continued cheering. This warm reception 
of his name, after a retirement of more than thirty 
years from the public sight, by so distinguished an 
assembly of the sons of New Hampshire, the older 
among them contemporaries of his manhood, and 
most of the others, sons and grandsons of his former 
friends and opponents in public life — gave him great 
pleasure, when reported to him by me, as it seemed 
to indicate, to some extent at least, the estimate 
which would ultimately be formed by the public 
judgment of his life and character, — a verdict ren- 
dered, with the impartiality of a succeeding gener- 
ation, on the transactions of the past. 

Many indications of his declining health have been 
given in the preceding extracts ; many more are to 
be found in his letters and journal. He was in the 
habit of noting down, chiefly on his birthday, or at 



520 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

the close of the year, the changes which time and 
disease had made, and were making, in his powers 
both of body and of mind. These he was himself 
the first to perceive ; and he has recorded them, not 
in a spirit of querulous discontent, but with calm 
resignation to the order of nature, and a ready 
acquiescence in the necessary course of inevitable 
events. A few extracts of a more personal charac- 
ter will bring us to the period when our record 
must close. 

June 25th, 1820. " It is more than a year since I retired 
from the government of the state to private life. I never 
spent a year of greater ease and happiness. I have had too 
much of office and public life to wish for more. Though not 
wealthy, I have property enough to supjjly my reasonable 
wants, and I have no inclination to acquire more. I seldom 
neglect exercise for a single day. It consists principally in 
superintending my farm. My sleep is sound and refreshing, 
and I preserve the habit of early rising. My diet is regular, 
simple and plain. My thirst for information is strong, and 
the only thing I regret, is the shortness of time." 

July 10th, 1820. " Reading, study, and writing afford me 
the purest pleasure and the highest satisfaction which I enjoy. 
It exceeds the pleasures and the enjoyments of the prime of 
life. I pity the man of threescore who cannot read with 
ardor. His life is a barren wilderness. In politics I am not 
bound by the shackles of party, nor in religion by the chains 
of sectarianism ; truth alone is the object of my pursuit. 
Every subject I consider, every book I read, appears different 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 521 

from what it formerly did. As my mind is independent, and 
my circumstances easy, I give free scope to my inquiries. If 
I discover an error, which I have long cherished, I relinquish 
it with pleasure, nay, even with pride ; but I do not change 
my opinions on important subjects without mature and delib- 
erate consideration." 

June 25th, 1821. "I am now sixty-two years of age. I 
feel the effect of age on my feeble constitution, though I bear 
it better than I expected. The period of life to which I have 
arrived has a natural tendency to limit the objects of my 
attention, and to make me reflect on approaching dissolution, 
which I often do, calmly, and without fear. The events of 
the past, books of history, science, literature, and morals, 
aflford me more information and greater pleasure than passing 
events, and the politics of the day." 

June 25th, 1822. ^' I have passed my climacterical year. 
At this period of life, it is natural to expect that every year 
will render me more infirm. In some constitutions, decay 
commences before sixty-three, in others later. I perceive no 
particular change in mine. My mental powers have been as 
sound and vigorous as they were the preceding year." 

December 31st, 1826. "As I advance in years, I more 
sensibly feel the importance of forming correct habits in early 
life. I now receive the benefit of two habits which I con- 
tracted when very young ; one is that of industry, the other, 
that of waiting on myself. My industry, instead of decreasing, 
as I descend the vale of years, is rather increased. I rise in 
the morning, at all seasons, before the sun ; and, in the 
winter, bring in my wood, and kindle my fire myself. I feed 
my hogs and poultry, and visit my barn, in winter, twice a day." 



522 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

This habit of feeding his swine was an early and 
inveterate one. On one occasion, while he was 
Governor, a committee from Portsmouth, who called 
upon him on business, found him with his basket of 
corn in his hand, feeding his pigs. These city visitors 
were at first a little disconcerted by the homely occu- 
pation of their Chief Magistrate ; but he entered, at 
once, into conversation with them on the merits of 
the various breeds of swine, and enlarged on their 
habits and their attractions, with a relish and good 
humor, and a knowledge of the subject, which could 
hardly have been surpassed by that "prince of 
men," as Homer calls him, "the divine swine-herd," 
Eumgeus himself This incident might remind the 
classic reader of the Samnite deputies, who, when 
sent on a solemn embassy to Marius Curius Den- 
tatus, found the Roman Consul at his Sabine farm, 
sitting by the fire, with a wooden platter beside him, 
roasting turnips in the ashes for his dinner. A some- 
what similar incident, nearer home, and equally 
characteristic of the man and of the times, was 
that with which Lafayette used to amuse the French 
court, when he described his call on President Weare, 
of New Hampshire, in 1784. The Legislature was 
in session at Exeter; and on calling at the President's 
lodgings, he was told that he had stepped into an 
adjoining room. Impatient to pay his respects to the 
Chief Magistrate, the vivacious Frenchman rushed 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 523 

forward, in spite of the friendly interposition, which 
would have staid his steps, till he came suddenly and 
unexj)ectedly on the venerable President, whom he 
found seated quietly in the kitchen corner, eating — 
not a piece of Christmas pie, but the humble repast 
of a bowl of hasty pudding and milk. 

February 18th, 1829. " If the old would be happy, they 
must not suffer the energies of their minds to stagnate. They 
must continue those pursuits of which their declming age is 
capable, and exercise theh powers on such subjects as most 
deeply interest and engage their attention. Indolence, 
whether of body or mind, is injurious in every stage of 
life ; but, in old age, it never fails to break down the 
intellect, and degrade the moral powers." 

May 31st, 1829. "My health has, this spring, consider- 
ably declined. My memory is still retentive, except as to 
names. These are often recollected with difficulty. My 
imagination begins to fade ; and, though I cannot perceive 
that my judgment is much impahed, it requires more time 
for me to form an opinion on particular subjects. My habits 
of industry remain in full force. I am. uneasy when not 
employed. The prospect of approaching dissolution does not 
disturb the quiet tenor of my course to the grave ; but it 
doubles my diligence to perform my appointed task." 

December 31st, 1830. " I have long had but little con- 
fidence in physicians, and have seldom employed them. 
Between a good and a bad physician there is a great differ- 
ence ; but very little between a good one and none at all. 



524 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

* Throw physic to the dogs/ says Shakspeare ; and I am 
much of his opinion." 

December 31st, 1832. "My eyes begin to fail. I cannot, 
without an effort, read after sunset, or by candle-light. The 
loss of sight would be to me a great calamity. I fear I shall 
be obliged to abandon reading and writing in the evening. 
Last May, I was apprehensive that my taking snuff was injuri- 
ous to my health. In weaning myself from it, which it took 
me several months to do, I suffered much ; but I now feel 
no inclination to return to it." 

June 25th, 1835. " I require a longer time to form an 
opinion than I formerly did ; but, when formed, my resolu- 
tion to adhere to it is still strong and decisive." 

January 1st, 1837. "The writing of letters I have almost 
abandoned. It is nearly nine months, since I have made a 
note in my journal respecting the books I read. In a word, 
my time and thoughts are devoted to a single subject, my 
biographical sketches." 

June 25th, 1837. " For the last twenty years, I have set 
every evening a bowl of water at the foot of my bed, and in 
the morning washed my feet in it, and wiped them dry. In 
winter I have sometimes to break the ice in the bowl. I have 
found this practice very beneficial. My appetite is good, and 
I sleep well at night. I rise, in summer, before five in the 
morning, and retire between nine and ten at night. My hair, 
which, in early life, was thick and very black, has become 
thin and grey, but not white. I am not so erect as formerly, 
but am now five feet and ten inches high. There is one habit 
which I formed in early life, which I have constantly prac- 
tised, that of waiting on myself. It is in general easier for me 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 525 

to do this tlian to require a servant to wait on me. I speak 
here of the thousand little, things, which occur in daily life, 
which I can do for myself easier and better than a servant 
can. By waiting on myself I avoid the vexation occasioned 
by his delay or his carelessness, and profit by the exercise 
which it gives me." 

February 7th, 1838. "It requires more time and labor to 
perform as much as usual ; and, what is worse, when done, it 
is more feeble and imperfect than formerly. But I still pre- 
serve my former habits of industry and application." 

To Professor Rafn, of Copenhagen, he wrote, (July 
9th, 1838:) 

" I fear that I shall not be able to contribute much, if any, 
assistance to your Society. I am too far advanced in life, 
being now in my eightieth year, to collect information, or 
investigate the facts relating to the early history of my 
country. I feel sensibly the debility which accompanies 
old age ; but, I thank God, I bear it with equanimity." 

In September, 1839, he had a severe attack of 
cholera morbus, which it was thought for some time 
would terminate fatally. The physician — the first he 
had employed for many years — pronounced him in 
danger. He thought so himself. "My mind," he 
says, "though feeble, was calm; and I felt as wil- 
ling to die, as to sleep, or rest when weary." He 
gradually recovered his strength, and returned again 
before the close of the year to his usual avocations. 



526 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

June 25th, 1840. "I have this day entered the eighty- 
second year of ray life. The infirmities, deprivations and 
evils of age have increased upon me. My mental powers are 
diminished. My decision of character is still strong and 
vigorous. I am habitually industrious, and 'temperate in all 
things.' " 

November 9th, 1840. " I thought it my duty to attend 
the town meeting, and vote for the Harrison Electors of 
President and Vice-President. I am now older than my 
father was when he died. I have frequent attacks of rheuma- 
tism, and almost daily pain. My mental faculties have 
suffered a gradual decay. I hope I shall not survive the 
use of them. Their loss would render life useless to me, 
and burdensome to my wife and children." 

June 35th, 1842. *' I have this year suffered more pain, 
and experienced more languor and debility, than in any pre- 
ceding year of my life. I contemplate the prostration of my 
mental faculties with regret, but my death with entire 
resignation." 

His health, always delicate, seemed, on the whole, 
nearly as good at eighty as it had ever been. His 
eye was not dimmed, nor his natural force abated ; 
nor was the alacrity of his spirit, or his extraordinary 
conversational ability, at all impaired. Though he 
sometimes forgot the name of a person, or a place, 
his memory of events, whether recent or more 
remote, was still ready and accurate ; and his quick- 
ness of repartee, and his unlimited command of lan- 
guage and illustration, excited the admiration even 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 527 

of those who knew him the best. His seasonable 
retirement from business had given a long and serene 
evening to the close of life, after the laborious occu- 
jDations of its earlier hours : and the studies in which 
he had then engaged saved him from the listlessness 
which creeps over the declining years of men of 
active habits, retired from business with no taste for 
reading. He had still the same quickness of percep- 
tion, rectitude of judgment, and vivacity of manner, 
which had given such force to his character m earlier 
life. 

But the infirmities of age now began to steal upon 
him, by a gradual but sure advance — painful at times. 
At the age of eighty-five, his memory had lost its 
hold on recent occurrences, though still accurate as to 
earlier events. This failure of memory did not, as yet, 
affect his judgment, or his perceptive faculties. It was 
curious, indeed, to remark with what force and acute- 
ness he would discuss any subject proposed to him, 
and yet half an hour afterwards not perhaps recol- 
lect that it had been even mentioned in his hearing. 

As months passed on, it was painful to watch this 
gradual overclouding of the intellect, the light of 
memory fading from the mind, and leaving, finally, 
only flashes of former recollections — the embers of 
decaying fires. He was himself conscious of the mel- 
ancholy change ; and, on the occurrence of some 
miexpected failure of memory, or confusion of ideas, 



528 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEE. 

an expression of mingled surprise and regret would 
escape .him, followed by the utterance of a resigna- 
tion at once striking and pathetic. The decay, how- 
ever, was so gradual, that he felt it perhaps less 
sensibly than we who witnessed it. Body and mind 
shared the same decline, each growing weaker to 
the close. After he had ceased to write, he con- 
tinued for some time to read. But it became appar- 
ent, by degrees, that his reading was to little 
purpose, other than to pass away the time. His 
mind, though still inquisitive, had lost its power 
to retain what he read; and at length even this, 
the last, as it had been among the earliest and 
most cherished of his employments, failed to interest 
or to amuse him. He had now ceased to labor; and, as 
life and labor were with him synonymous, he soon 
ceased also to live. The brief interval of inaction 
which followed, was but the composing of the limbs 
to rest, — the relaxation which precedes sleep. Full 
of years and honors — satisfied with life — he was now 
ready for his departure. Some extracts from entries 
made by me, at the dates respectively named, will 
bring us to the period of his death. 

June 25th, 1847.- *^He is eighty-eight years old to-day. 
Though infirm, he is able to go about the house, and extends 
his walks occasionally to the garden, or the barn. I visit him 
twice a-day. His appetite is good, and his bodily health not 
bad for his time of life. But his memory is much impaired. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 529 

He will sometimes talk of old events witli accuracy ; but 
more frequently times, places, and persons are confounded ; 
and wliat is true of one is told of another, with circumstances 
belonging perhaps to a third. Yet he often speaks, and even 
reasons, on particular subjects, with a good deal of his old 
vivacity and acuteness. He is quick to mark the fallacy of 
any remark made in his presence, and will often draw the line 
of distinction between truth and error as clear and sharp as in 
his best days ; so that strangers, who converse with him for a 
short time only, go away with admiration at this unim- 
paired vigor of mind in so old a man. His hold on life is 
apparently very slender, — sometimes it seems all but gone. 
Yet, like a withered leaf which has hung trembling all winter 
upon the tree, there seems no reason why one breeze should 
detach it more than another." 

March 4th, 1848. " My fiither is much affected by the 
death of his old friend, John Quincy Adams. I found him 
this morning in tears, with the newspaper in his hand, reading 
the account of the death, and of the last honors paid to his 
distinguished friend. He repeated several times very emphati- 
cally : ' He was a great man — a good man — an excellent 
man.' He was so much affected by it, that we endeavored, 
though in vain, to keep the accounts from him." 

Dec. 28th, 1848. " On my return from Boston, last week, 

I found my father much altered in his appearance, and much 

indisposed. Thursday, the 21st, while conversing with the 

family, he suddenly stopped, turned pale, and seemed about 

to fall from his chair. He was immediately removed to his 

bed, and it seemed, for the moment, as if life had departed. 

He, however, revived with a sudden start, as if from a fit. 
34 * 



530 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

His physician thought that he had no disease upon him, 
beyond the natural debihty of old age. He did not think that 
he could continue long. Since that, he has been growing 
weaker, yet with occasional improvement. At times, his 
mind seems bright and clear, and he indulges in his usual 
acute and lively remarks, not without an occasional touch of 
humor or sarcasm. I sat up with him on the night of the 
23d, and again on the 26th, when it seemed hardly probable 
that he would live till morning. Till about midnight, he 
was very restless, and talked much and earnestly, but inco- 
herently at times. When more calm, he spoke, among other 
things, of his long accustomed labors, the materials he had 
collected for his Biographical Sketches, and the lives he had 
yet to write. He said he had written with freedom and 
impartiality of men and measures, telling, in every case, what 
he believed to be the truth. He hoped some of the sketches 
might be found fit for publication. This morning, he seemed 
better than he had been. He got up, and was able to sit in a 
chair for fifteen minutes. While he was sitting, my mother 
ofiered him a pinch of snuff. He stretched out his hand, but 
withdrew it again, and said, smiling : ' The woman which 
thou gavest me tempted me.' He added, smiling again : ' But 
Adam was a weak man to yield to temptation.' He after- 
wards quoted a passage from St. Paul, on the immortality of 
the soul ; spoke of dreams, and said that the phenomena of 
dreaming seemed to show a state of being, of which we had 
no other experience. He soon after became exhausted, and we 
restored him to his bed. His habitual kindness of disposition, 
and his desire to be as little burdensome as possible, appear 
in the frequent apologies which he makes for the trouble he 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 531 

gives us. ' I tliaiik you,' uttered in the kindest tones, is one 
of his most frequent expressions." 

Dec. 31st. " It is touching to remark, how, in the decline 
of the understanding, his moral powers seem to retain their 
rightful supremacy. The intellect has no longer its accus- 
tomed strength ; but the kindly affections, the moral feelings, 
come out in yet stronger relief. He seems better to-day, or 
at least stronger. He was dressed and sat in liis chair the 
greater part of the day." 

Jan. 5th, 1849. " He has been gradually gaining strength 
for several days past, and seems now likely to get over this 
attack, though still very weak." 

He did accordingly recover ; and seemed, for a 
time, to be quite as well as he had been for some 
years before. The death of his youngest son, (May 
1st, 1849,) moved him greatly, and with a stunning 
effect. The funeral was from his house, and he 
seemed, at times, at a loss to understand why the 
house was so full of strangers, and what they were 
about. After supper, he said to me that he wanted 
to go home, evidently thinking that he was in some 
strange place ; but this was a momentary illusion ; 
and he soon after talked with his usual self-possession 
and equanimity. " It is," he said, " all for the best. 
Jay has gone before ; but I shall not be long in fol- 
lowing. This is a good world j but there is a better 
one where he is gone." 



532 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

Aug. 6th, 1850. " For the last month or two, my father 
has been gradually losing his sight. It is a year or more 
since he complained that he could not find glasses that suited 
him. It now appears that cataracts are growing over one, if 
not both of his eyes. He walks but little, and steps slowly 
and with caution, as if afraid of falling. Two or three months 
ago, he set out alone to come up to my house, but was met 
half way, and persuaded to return. About a month ago, he 
rode up to see his brother Daniel, who was sick. Weakened 
as his mind is, it seems to have lost none of its activity. It 
is not the torpor, but the debility, of the brain ; nor is this 
weakness perpetual. He often reasons correctly, and makes 
sound and sensible remarks. His language, too, is accurate, 
and his use of words pure. If at any time he uses a word or 
expression which is improper, he pauses to correct himself, 
and shows by the phrase finally selected that the idea was in 
the mind, though the word proper to express it had at first 
escaped him. It is not, therefore, the parrot-like repetition of 
words not understood, but the deliberate utterance of compre- 
hended thought, and of a purity of taste and accuracy of 
expression, which survive the knowledge to which they were 
once auxiliary." 

On the third of December, lie was suddenly taken 
ill, having been, for some time previous, as well as 
usual. He, however, rallied in a few days; and 
seemed to be recovering his wonted strength, so much 
so, that I went to Concord on the 9th to attend the 
Constitutional Convention, of which I was a member, 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 533 

thinking him, though feeble, in no immediate danger. 
He was, the next day, strong enough to sit up in his 
bed, and it seemed probable that he would regain his 
usual state of health. The following account of the 
closing scene is from the diary of one of his grand- 
daughters. 

Dec. 15th. " He is very mild and pleasant, characteristic- 
ally afraid of giving trouble to others, and thanking every one 
who does him the slightest service. If giving way for a 
moment to any impatient feeling, he checks hnnself, and says 
— ' But it is all right.' He is so patient and uncomplaining, 
he seems so calm, and looks so peaceful, that it is a comfort to 
be with him. His mind often wanders back to his youthful 
days. As his sight is nearly gone, I asked him, on coming in 
to-day, if he knew me. He said : ' Yes ; you are my sister ;' 
and he afterwards asked me if I thought he could do anything 
to make his father and mother more comfortable in their old 
age. Even when not recognizing others, he knows grand- 
mother's voice, and answers her with great tenderness. He 
repeated to-day passages from Scripture, hymns, and other 
poetry. His quotations seemed to have reference mostly to 
his own situation." 

16th. " One of his grandsons, who had been absent about 
two years, came home. He knew him, was glad to see him, 
and made some inquiries respecting his travels." 

20th. " There was an evident change for the worse ; and 
he continued to grow weaker." 

22d. " We were all with him through the day ; and, 
when the others went home, I staid, to sit up with him 



534 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

through the night. He was quiet, and seldom spoke ; but 
his breathing was faint and irregular. At length, as I sat 
listening anxiously to every breath, I heard him suddenly 
breathe a little harder and quicker than before. I sprang to 
the bed-side in time to see his last gasp. He died without a 
struggle or a groan, or the slightest movement, except of his 
lips. As I stood over him, he looked so calm — it was so 
much like sleep — that I could not believe he was gone. I 
held my breath to listen, and watched anxiously for some 
sign of life ; but none came. It was eight minutes past eight 
in the evening of the 22d of December when he left us. I 
was the only member of the family present at the time, I 
sent immediately to call the others. When my uncles came, 
the question was, how we should communicate the event to 
grandmother, who had been much agitated on leaving him a 
few hours before. It was decided that I should do it, which 
I accordingly did. I found her prepared for the event, and, 
though much afflicted, she bore it better than we feared." 

At the time of his decease, I was at Manchester, on 
my way home from Concord, having received notice 
of his increasing danger. A storm, which rendered 
all travelling impossible, prevented my reaching 
Epping till two days later. He was already in the 
coffin when I arrived. There was still a faint smile 
around his lips, a tranquillity of expression, a serene 
composure, which seemed, in its mysterious silence, 
full of that peace which passeth understanding. But 
there was more than the serenity of death in his 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 535 

countenance, — a look at once overawing and attrac- 
tive, calm, placid, yet noble beyond what the living 
form had recently worn — as if the spirit, in departing, 
had left that imprint of the soul stamped in the 
lineaments of the face, — a serene and pathetic beauty 
imparting to the beholder something of the beatitude 
into which it was itself about to enter. It seemed 
not so much the sleep of death, as of a higher life, — a 
light as of the dawning of a brighter day. As I stood 
over him in awe and reverent admiration of that 
benign and venerable face — venerable at once and 
lovely — with its silent, unchanging, and inexplicable 
expression, as of a new and a holier life, I felt, while 
laying my hand on his smooth, broad and tranquil 
brow, the truth of that saying of Novalis, " We touch 
heaven when we lay our hands on a human body." 
Grief for his departure was succeeded by a deep feel- 
ing of resignation — a solemn joy at this happy trans- 
formation from pain and suffering, from the cloud and 
darkness wdiich hang over the valley of the shadow 
of death to the repose and the splendors of a purer 
and happier day. 

The funeral was on the twenty-seventh, five days 
after his decease ; and, though the roads were still 
blocked with snow, it was attended by a great con- 
course of his friends and neighbors. The Rev. 
Andrew P. Peabody preached on the occasion a ser- 
mon on Old Age, presenting consoling views of the 



536 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

happy termination of a long life of public service and 
private virtue, "so successful in its active clays, so 
serene and liappy in its retirement, so richly favored 
in its domestic relations, so tenderly cherished even 
to its latest hours." He was then borne by eight of 
his neighbors from the house where he had lived for 
sixty-two years, to the family cemetery hard by. 

Fifteen months later, we followed, with aifectionate 
sorrow, to the same retreat, the companion of his 
manhood, and the solace of his old age, who came at 
length in silence to repose by his side, in a union, 
indissoluble in death, as it had been happy in life. 

A granite column has been since erected by the 
filial piety of their sons, to mark the spot where they 
rest. 

The death of Governor Plumer called forth inter- 
esting notices of the event from various parts of the 
country, showing that, though he had long withdrawn 
from the public view, his character and his services 
were still fresh in the minds of the j)eople. 

The Convention for revising the Constitution of 
New Hampshire was in session at the time of his 
decease. The following extracts from its proceedings 
will show the notice which they took of the event. 

" On Friday, the 27th of December, 1850, the Honorable 
Ichabod Bartlett rose in his place and announced the death of 
the late Governor Plumer, as follows : 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 537 

*' Mr. President : — Fifty-eiglit years ago, an assembly of 
one hundred of the most distinguished statesmen and patriots 
of New Hampshire met here and formed that Constitution 
under which our government has been so admirably adminis- 
tered, and our people so eminently prospered for that long 
period ; and we are now gathered to reply, if possible, to the 
yet unanswered question, whether any alteration or change 
can now be made in that venerable instrument, better to adapt 
it to the lapse of time. When we came here, on the 6th of 
November, all the members of that Convention, save one 
alone, had passed from the scenes of time. Since that period, 
the last survivor of that august assembly has descended to the 
tomb, and given to us another admonition that even ' the path 
of glory leads but to the grave.' 

" The Honorable William Plumer died at his residence 
in Epping, on the 22d of December instant, in the ninety- 
second year of his age. This event cannot fail to make a 
deep impression upon the mind of every citizen of New 
Hampshire, and especially demands from us a public recog- 
nition of the solemn dispensation of Divine Providence. 
Governor Plumer had, for a very long period, filled a wide 
space in the regard and afiections of his fellow men. 

" He was born in Newbury, on the 25th of June, 1759. 
At about the age of eight years, he removed with his father 
to Epping, where he resided till his death. At an early age, 
he was elected Pepresentative to the Legislature from that 
town, and held that office for eight years ; for two years of 
which time he occupied the Speaker's chair. He was after- 
wards elected to the Senate of this State, in which body he 
held the office of President. 



538 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMEK. 

" In 1792, lie was chosen a delegate to the Convention to 
revise the Constitution of the state, and by the imperfect 
journal of that Convention, which has been in our hands, we 
see with what diligence and success he labored to leave the 
impress of his patriotic mind upon that instrument, which, 
after the lapse of more than half a century, we find it so 
difficult if not impossible to amend. In 1802 he was elected 
to the Senate of the United States, where he served till 1807. 
In 1812, 1816, 1817, and 1818, he was chosen and served as 
Governor of New Hampshire ; and in 1820 was chosen an 
Elector for this State of President and Vice-President. In 
1787 he was admitted a member of the Bar, and for twenty 
years practised his profession with high reputation for legal 
learning, integrity, and talent. In all his various public 
offices he watched with such vigilance, and labored with such 
perseverance, for the interests and welfare of his constituents, 
as to secure their high esteem and lasting gratitude. 

" As an humble expression of our regard for his memory, 
I ask for the adoption by the Convention of the following 
resolutions : 

"Resolved, That in the death of the Honorable William Plumer the 
state has lost an eminent statesman, a patriotic citizen and an honest man. 

" Resolved, That for his long and fSiithful public semces and exemplary 
virtues as a citizen, the whole people should cherish his memory •with 
affectionate regard. 

" The members of the Convention passed the resolutions by 
unanimously rising in their seats ; and as a public mark of re- 
spect, on motion of Mr. Atherton, the Convention adjourned." 

Governor Plumer was one of the few remaining 
survivors of the revolutionary period, — a sample of 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 539 

the kind of men by whom that crisis, and the scarcely 
less dangerous one which immediately followed the 
revolution, were encountered. Debarred in early life 
from the advantages of education, he was essentially 
a self-made man. Deriving his knowledge from 
observation more than from books, though he was 
ultimately a well-read English scholar, he showed 
always the freshness of an original observer, and he 
never failed to express clearly the truth which he 
had himself seen and verified. It was his sincerity of 
conviction, added to a fearlessness of temper which 
never shrank from the expression, on all suitable occa- 
sions, of his real opinions and sentiments, which gave 
uncommon weight to what he uttered, and left no 
one who heard him without the strongest conviction 
of his earnestness. 

His attention was ever on the alert, and nothing 
passed in his presence which he did not inquire into, 
and, if possible, understand. This steady, unremitted 
pursuit of knowledge was strong in him to the last, 
quickening liis ear, and strengthening his memory. 

His humanity was ever active. Nothing offended 
him more than wanton cruelty to man or beast, and, 
though careless of his own exposure to danger or to 
toil, he was tenderly regardful of the labor and the 
sufferings of others. His politeness, understanding 
by that word a courteous regard for the feelings 
of others, was uniform and enduring. Even his 



540 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

children, who visited him every day, were helped 
by him to a chair, and were not permitted to depart 
without his waiting upon them to the door. This he 
did, and would do, with affectionate assiduity, not- 
withstanding their remonstrances, almost to the very 
close of life. The old man of more than fourscore 
had forgotten none of the amiable attentions of his 
younger years. 

He was fond of society, and the visits of his friends 
were always acceptable. They seemed to rouse him 
to new life, and he conversed as if conversation were 
his only pleasure. "Dr. Uiple}^," says Emerson, 
"knew every body's grandfather." This was true 
of my father. In early life he sought the company 
of the aged, and in age he was fond of the young. 
The company must have been more than commonly 
select, into which his entrance did not bring some 
new element of enjoyment or instruction, not by 
loud or obtrusive demonstrations, but by the extent 
of his information, the readiness and vivacity of his 
discourse, and the unstudied ease and urbanity of his 
manners. 

Utility was the great object of his pursuit, and he 
showed some impatience of studies which seemed to 
have no relations with life. His own knowledge was 
all of the practical kind. He seemed to reject from 
it whatever could not be turned to some practical 
purpose. Matters merely curious had for him very 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 541 

little attraction. This indifference was, perhaps, car- 
ried by him sometimes too far, as it is not always 
easy to foresee to what uses knowledge, apparently 
useless, may, in the progress of events, be put. 

In person, he was tall and erect, his complexion 
dark, his face rather long and thin, his hair black, 
and his eyes black and sparkling, with a look and a 
smile — when he was pleased himself, or would please 
others — expressive of the most winning good will and 
kindness. In old age, his thin grey locks, the mild 
fire of his eye, and the smile on his lips, gave him a 
beauty and grandeur, at once conciliatory and com- 
manding. His eye was, perhaps, his most expressive 
feature. It seemed on fire when he was engaged in 
debate, or in earnest conversation. Yet there was a 
gentleness about it, which made it as attractive in his 
milder moods as it was terrible in his anger. 

His voice was clear, strong, and flexible. He was 
one of the best readers, if not the very best, I ever 
knew, putting the writer's meaning into his tones, and 
making the hearer forget all but his subject. On 
Sunday afternoons he was accustomed to read to us a 
sermon from some old English divine, — Barrow or 
Taylor. On such occasions, he did ample justice to 
his author ; and " truths divine came rhended from 
his tongue." We were then required to read a chap- 
ter from the Bible. On this he would question us 
as to its meaning, and accompany his inquiries with 



542 LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 

renitarks and information, often curious and original, 
and always evincing a knowledge of Scrij)ture, and a 
joower of comparing one passage with another, and of 
thence eliciting its meaning, which I have never seen 
surpassed. These Sunday evening recitations, which 
were kept up till the family circle was broken by the 
marriage of my sister, and by my own removal to 
Portsmouth, were always regarded by us with great 
interest, and were equally pleasant and instructive. 
His remarks, were not so much the result of deep 
learning, which he did not possess, as of a rare 
sagacity which revealed to him what profounder 
study made known to others. 

I close this labor of filial piety with mingled feel- 
ings of pleasure and regret, — of pleasure that it is 
accomplished, of regret at the manner in which it is 
performed. I commit it, with its many imperfections, 
to the charitable construction of friends, who know 
under what discouragements, in sickness and suffer- 
ing, it has been pushed steadily, but slowly, forward 
to its present imperfect completion. To others, the 
author and his theme are alike indifferent, and can 
have no claim to attention or regard beyond what 
the theme itself may possess, as presenting a picture, 
more or less perfect, of a true man — a man of head, 
heart, and hand, — of thought, feeling, and action — a 
man not great, in the sense in which some three or four 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PLUMER. 643 

in a century are, who leave their stamp on their age 
or country — not perfect, as being, even in his own 
opinion, never in the wrong ; but yet clear in intel- 
lect, warm in affection, upright in purpose, and active 
and indefatigable in exertion. Such a life, if well- 
written, might be an encouraging example to youth 
toiling in poverty and under privation ; to manhood 
tasked with labor and tried by temptation ; to old 
age, cheerful amidst suffering, and tranquil in its 
pilgrimage, amid the splendors of departing day, 
down the long valley of the shadow of death. 

Fortunate in life, and in death unfortunate only, 
parent revered, in this most inadequate portraiture 
of thy many virtues ! 



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